I still cry over this dog.. It's terrible. This could be really long!
When I was ~13 or so I went to a small animal sale looking for a sheep. We had lost our Yellow Lab a few months before so I didn't figure my parents would let me get another dog yet. Well, we were walking around looking at the different animals when I heard that there was only 1 puppy left at the whole thing. Well, I guess you really do save the best for last. We went over to look at her and a couple of girls were holding her. I was thinking "Darn, they are going to take her. I'm really not going to be able to get a dog!" I wasn't too upset though as I said I didn't think I was going to be allowed to get a dog yet anyway. Well, they asked if I wanted to hold her and so I somewhat reluctantly agreed. I didn't want to have to put her back, you know! Well, after a few minutes of playing with her my mom asked if I wanted to get her. I was THRILLED! I had never had a puppy before and she was just the cutest little thing. She was a Black Lab/Rottweiler mix.
Well, we took her home and when I got out of the car with her my dad said "That sure is a funny looking sheep!"
That night we tried to get her to sleep in the shed but she barked and whined so I went and got her and brought her to my room. To the last day that is where she slept! She only ever made a mess in the house a couple of times before she was trained. All we had to do was pretty much point to it and say no and she figured it out really quickly. Probably took 2 days. She knew instinctively that she wasn't supposed to dig in the garbage. When she couldn't resist the urge she would wake my mom up afterwords and make her get up to see. She just had to confess. What a kind heart she had. She was NEVER rough. And so, so forgiving. If I got mad at her over petty little things she always came right back to cuddle and play.
She was not only my best friend, she was my dads too. She went with him
everywhere outside. Cutting down trees for firewood, he would just have to tell her "Watch out Ozzie, it's gonna fall that way (and he'd point that way)" and she'd move the opposite way to a safe place.
I have so many wonderful memories of her. My mom said after I left for college every single time she came inside she'd go up to my room to look for me. She missed me so much. Every time I'd come home she'd be there waiting for me as excited as could be!
Last year at the end of November my mom called and told me she was acting strange. She was running into things and acting like she couldn't see. I rushed home and took her to the vet and he wasn't sure what was wrong. He gave some medications and eye drops as her eyes were all red and she was all swollen. We thought maybe she got kicked by a horse or something. Well, the medications took care of the swelling and the eye drops helped break up some of the blood in her eyes. My dad took her back 3 days later and the vet said that it was cancer. We were all heartbroken. I rushed back home to be with her on the night of November 29 after an exam. It broke my heart to see her the way she was. She couldn't get comfortable and she ran into things as she could barely see. On November 30 my mom and I took her in and had her put to sleep.
We all still miss her so much. My dad had a hard time with it. He kept saying over and over that he never thought he'd cry over an animal but he cried a lot for her too. I guess every once in a while someone gets lucky enough to have a dog like her. I am blessed to have been her owner. She taught us all so much.
RIP Ozzie...I'll never forget you!
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