ozzy

This morning I thought I'd write about Ozzy because his story has a happy ending. I've always had 2 dogs, but with vet bills (yes I take my animals, every single one of them, to the vet, when they are supposed to go and when they are sick, I don't even want to do that math) and raising the kids (and an incident with a larger dog with Becca when she was 3) got the household down to 1 dog, but usually 3 cats. Shelby is a good dog, but she's 12 now and I got my Anthony for my 16th birthday and had him until I was in my 30s, so I thought if I got something now, Becca would have someone to grow up with.

That and doing the website for a local rescue league (where Mugsy came from) has you looking at PetFinder a lot. I have NEVER purchased an animal from a breeder, there are plenty of nice mutts, with less health issues, and purebreds in shelters and available for adoption from rescues.

Every pet I've ever had (except Anthony who though was probably a purebred mini poodle, came from a family I knew and had no 'papers' but was also a gift and only cost $10 because of the bill for the tail docking) has come from the local pound/rescue. And that's a lot of pets....

Now I'm distracted so let's see.....well not counting Ant, there were (for dogs) Gretchun, Muff'n, and Shelby, with a stray called Shakespeare that I had for awhile, he was an older Irish Setter but he was only around for awhile, then there was that incident when we got saddled with Chewie, who we took in because someone we knew moved and couldn't keep him. He bit me and ruined my house, so he didn't last long, gave him back (eventually he bit their landlord, ended up euthanized and deemed a 'viscous' dog...and we had Sophie, but she jumped up on Bec to get a tennis ball she was waving around (and had been throwing for her) and caught her nails on Bec's little 3 year old face/top of head and left Bec with over 100 stitches (amazing plastic surgeon, can't even tell now) so I ended up turning her in because I just couldn't look at Sophie and Bec's little face. She's the only dog I've ever turned in, but it was with the understanding she go to a 'guy with a truck' and she did, I used to see her riding around town in a guy's truck, I made sure that if she was about to be euthanized, I would take her back. Every one of my dogs has lived well into their teens, Muff'n the eldest when she died, she was almost 17.

Anyway, then there are the cats....X-it and 'stache, then we found Moola/Moo, she was in the trash can inside the vestibule at the ATM at the bank, hence her name. We had Elvis, he showed up one day and he was right up there with Rex as far as being an excellent cat. Tigg'r, Bailey, Moe; Rex, Pharoah, (bella) Luna, and Mugsy. Usually had 3 at once.

So last summer, because summer is always a good time to get a new dog/puppy, this puppy (10 months old) named 'Banjo' was on Petfinder. He was listed locally (we'll get into what locally apparently means these days, I had always scouted the pounds directly for dogs in the past, but it's a new world out there!) and was a Saluki and was blind. They didn't realize it for a while so he'd been in 3 homes and was being fostered. They wanted a home with a large yard and a larger dog so he could have someone to follow around. There was a nice photo of him with cats laying all over him which also seemed like a good fit (cats rule over here, Shelby doesn't care about anything).

I was renovating (defective kitchen floor that we had put down, 2 years old) and thought I should wait until construction was done before I added a blind animal to the house, that and his photo on the fridge so everyone could be on board with getting another dog......so it was early fall before I finally sent the email to the organization about him. I didn't hear back for over a week and thought oh well, I guess he's gone or they don't want him here, but then I got a response and he had passed away the day I had emailed! So good he wasn't HERE when that happened (or I'd shelled out $400 for him) but the woman thanked me for being the ONLY person who asked after him and offered to help me with any other adoption on their site.

Now I've got the I-want-a-new-dog bug.....I look every few days or so at Petfinders and one day I see this:

Now keep in mind I'm the QUEEN of research when it comes to buying anything or info on the web, I always double check facts, etc.

Not this time. More on that later.

So I really liked the one on the right. They said they were border collies, they said they were IN my town. They said they were too young to determine the sex. Once again, I put the photo on fridge to get everyone on board (it's now fall, I'm teaching, working, Bec's in school, nobody home during the day and now it's a PUPPY not a dog).

So I finally contact the agency via email, nothing. Now I'm obsessed, what is up with these rescue organizations? They have all these animals and they can't be bothered with answering their email? How do they get them adopted? A week goes by, and I decide to fork over the $50 via Paypal and fill out the application, the first email was my list of questions about the puppy, I wasn't about to fork over any $$ without more info (see fact checker above!) and yikes it's worse than adopting a kid! They ask about everything.

Literally, 10 minutes later (I had gone out to run an errand) my phone rang and this woman was going on and on about how she'd called my vet (references!) and they went 'awwww' when she asked about me as a pet person and vet visits, she knew the rescue organization I worked with and LOVED them. She said she didn't want the rest of the $$ for the puppy ($400) because of what I do (I actually only do their website and sometimes work at adoption hours). Then I find out he's not here, and the website listed MY TOWN. She said he was in the next state. So I (stupidly) say I'll send you more money because of transportation. She said not to, she didn't want it, she was more interested in him having a good home. He (at the time!) was healthy, up to date on shots, been microchipped, and in foster care for quarantine. I asked if I could get her the following Thursday, that would give me 5 days home before I had to work and she said sure (long weekend/Columbus Day).

The following Thursday comes and I've heard NOTHING......and I have no contact for this person (her phone number was blocked) except email.

On Saturday (yes I've sat home all weekend) night she emails and says they puppies are not coming because they were deemed 'too young to travel' aka, < 6 weeks old, but next week.

Next week comes, I sit home ALL WEEKEND, nothing, no phone call, nothing.

Mid week, I get an email saying the next weekend for sure.

Nope big snowstorm, I then find out the puppies are in SC, and I was told, got as far as the next state and were not coming any further. So I'm thinking they're in a truck someplace cold, etc. (see I've not done this whole real rescue thing before, but I'm learning!). She assures me they are in another foster placement and are safe.

Mid week again, I offer to go get her. The woman who has them has no electricity and works on the weekend and is not home.

I finally get her phone number (the rescue person I'm dealing with). She NEVER answers her phone and has NO voicemail. NEVER. As it is, I email her (not a lot, not like I haunted her, but now she has my $250 and I have no puppy) maybe 3-4 times to get even ONE response.

I start researching her rescue org (gee they have a nice website!). They have the WORST reputation, there's even a news story on her, not really about not getting the animals, but apparently she works with high kill shelters in the south and the puppies/dogs come up here, almost like an underground railroad and at the time (2 years ago) she didn't have any of the proper state permits, other rescues in the state were giving her a hard time because they felt it was taking away from local dogs who need homes and they found her at her house with the van full of animals and fined her. Now be that as it may, whenever I've looked for a dog/puppy in the pounds, though I've had decent luck, easily 80% of pit bull mixes. I like cute and fluffy. There were also many many complaints about people never getting their animals, animals being sick, not being what they picked out, the foster families she uses never get paid for vet bills....etc.

I was just sick about it. $250 is a lot of money, plus I have a photo of a cute puppy. It's like waiting for an overseas adoption to go through but you're dealing with N. Korea or someplace like that. I also read that she had stage 4 breast cancer and it had come back and she'd just started treatment again around the time I started this whole thing. In fact she had finally changed her email auto responder to say she'd only answer emails Tuesday - Friday (no she didn't do that either).

So another week goes by, nothing, not even an email......it's now November....they're in the next state but they had kennel cough.....and my friends at the rescue I work at are teasing about how old exactly was that puppy in the photo?

I finally get this from her, an updated photo from the person who fostered them: .

All of a sudden, my fluffy little border collie is looking more like a shitzsu. I email her and ask if I can switch which one I want, she says I can have the pick of the litter because nobody else is adopted yet.

So now I'm in research mode on how to choose a laid back, non alpha puppy.....

It's now Veteran's Day, puppies are supposed to come this weekend.....no puppies.....

Finally early in the week before Thanksgiving weekend she calls me and says they'll be at the rescue organization I work for on Friday, she gives me the number for the transport person and tells me to call on that Friday morning, around 7 am. She said it was the 'rescue of her life' she had a lot of animals coming, and that was the reason for the confusion (she never once told me she was sick). Oh and since I wanted to choose on temperament, why don't I take ALL 3 HOME for the weekend and then decide?

Um no, because I can NEVER reach you, yes it would be a deal at $250 but my cats would revolt. I'd end up with THREE new dogs that I cannot afford, etc.

I just say no politely as I'm not home enough and we can't take on 3 puppies.

Shelby has an appointment down at the vet for a teeth cleaning. Oh and keep in mind, every time they were supposed to come, I had a vet appointment THAT DAY that I would have to cancel.

I call that morning and lo and behold someone answers and says yes I have a van full of puppies and I'm on time, and then when I tell her which one is mine, she says, oh yeah, I'm really mad, they're supposed to have been taken care of by foster care and they've been throwing up worms the whole way up (from SC, btw, they were never in the next state, turns out there were 2 litters of border collies and that (supposedly) was the cause of confusion).

I head down there with my crate and there's this van parked in the back, they've been driving for 17 hours from SC. It's cold out. She opens the back of the van and there are 8-10 crates all stacked on top of each other and probably 30 puppies 2-4 in a crate. She asks me which one is mine and up at the top I see a big crate with 4 puppies in it, 3 of which look like the photo.

They were filthy, they smelled, they had crap and hay and who knows what else all over them, last thing I wanted to do was pick one up and flip it over to see if it was docile!

The fluffy one indeed looked like a shitzu, so that one was out. I need a dog that can stand up to my cat, not be smaller than them. I had wanted a female but she wasn't sure which was which. I'm looking at the other 2 and just said, I'll take that one (he's actually the one in the middle on both the other photos, he has 'freckles' on his nose). She said if it makes me feel any better, the 3 of them were the only ones not barking the whole way up.

The transport person went go find the records, they had no names, it just said online 'the bunch' and that's what they're paperwork said, each certificate said they were all male, all black and white, so she didn't know (1 was female) whose microchip paperwork was whose, so I just took one set of papers and she said the vet could tell me the number. I loaded him into the kitty crate and headed to the vet to drop off Shelby.

When I tell you how sad and sick he looked and he smelled, he smelled terrible.
His paperwork said he'd come from here, you can actually see him in the still photo at the 4:27 mark, up at the top. It also said they (the 3 of them, not sure if there were more or where their 'mom' was) were found by the side of the freeway on 9/27 (just a week before I contacted them) and they had his birthday at 7/27 which would have made him 8 weeks when he was found, yet too young to determine the sex? We changed his birth date to 8/30 but that's probably still too early too. My vet confirmed that, but we decided not to change his birth date again.

They had names online; Zelda, Zappa, and Ozzy. There was a suggestion to name him 'Miles' after Miles Davis and the great distance he had come to be with us, but he seemed to know/like Ozzy.

I was going to stop at PetSmart and pick up some extras for him and get him groomed, in fact I was in their parking lot waiting for them to open but he just didn't look well so I went home. I got him into the bath and he just stood there and shivered and just kept looking over at me. I got him all bundled up in a towel and just sat and held him until he dried off and then I fed him.

He had a vet appointment that afternoon and he weighed 5#, he had snotty eyes, he was getting kennel cough, his ears had hematomas in them from banging around in the cage on the way up (and the rescue league I volunteer for took the siblings, everyone else in THAT van and another van of over 30 dogs that came in later that day). His shots had lapsed so we would have to start over, he was not neutered yet, nothing.....he did have a microchip and turns out I had the correct paperwork for that, he was so sick the vet decided to just worm him, she drained the hematomas in hopes that would make them go away, and gave him antibiotics and said we'll see how he is next week.


After all the tests, he had 4 kinds of worms, which required him to get meds, wait a couple of weeks, get weighed, get more meds, get retested, took 3 months for them to clear up...he needed his ears operated on, he had to start on his shots, he got neutered, I think his medical bills at this point are well over $1000. I contacted the rescue after I got him because he was so sick and she offered to refund my money to help pay, but I knew I'd never see it so I said don't bother.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend her organization again; I know she is sick and she did contact me when she had to. But it would take me 4-5 emails before I'd get one answer. I sat home almost 2 months' worth of weekends waiting to hear whether he was coming or not. Not answering your phone after you've told me to call is ridiculous; so is also having no voice mail on it. The lack of communication was the most annoying, like I have nothing better to do than to sit home and wait for someone to email me or call, I finally would walk around with my email going to my phone just so I wasn't sitting. I did end up get the puppy I had picked (well not the original one, but the right litter) and I wouldn't trade him for the world, he is the best puppy.

I took him to work a couple of times now, he greets everyone but then he lays down under my feet and just stays there. Though he's a border collie, he's very laid back. He does nip, and likes to chase the cats, but he's bred to herd sheep so that's going to probably be the biggest behavioural challenge. He's 'wicked' smart. He knew sit and wouldn't touch his food until I told him to right when he came. He loves everybody, especially Becca, he has to be in the same room with someone, he's crate trained, something I'd never done before but he's really good about that. He's just starting to come and get me to go out. He just got neutered so after the stitches come out this week, hopefully he'll be all set with the vet for a while.

He's also cheered up/reinvigorated Shelby, they play all the time. He used to be able to run under her, that's about done. I saw him jump over her the other day, it's gonna suck when he figures out he can jump the gates.

My cats are not so happy, although Mugsy, who when he came home totally hated the dog, I mean for a whole year Shelby couldn't even LOOK at him without him hissing and whacking at her (and Shelby could care) was the first one to 'greet' him when I brought him home. Pharoah has finally stopped hissing at him, though he doesn't like being chased, and he and Luna have a weird relationship. Luna essentially hates him. He can't even lay under the table she's on without her growling, yet she teases him and chases him and seems to like the play, but she's psychotic anyway.

He's in obedience school now, he knows all the commands (so far) that she's thrown at him, but to get into agility, which I think he'd like, you have to go through the other classes and get your certificate.

He is terrified of traffic (understandably) but since he's been out walking a lot, he's gotten better about it. He does like the car, he lays down and goes to sleep, although lately he likes to sit and look out the windshield. He is skittish with loud noises (he bolts, which is scary), this includes fireworks, the police shooting range (which you can hear from the house), a guy using a nail gun 2 streets away the other day, and his shadow (???). Shelby is afraid of fireworks and thunder and has 'happy pills' for it; I'm curious to see how Ozzy handles thunder. He likes to play frisbee and he and Shelby go after it (Shelby beats him to it) in the backyard, unleashed and then they carry it back together. He brings back his toy or his ball for you to throw again, he knows 'drop'. He does stay, but I'm working on that more, along with things like sitting at the door while I put his leash on, sitting at the door before we go inside. I made sure he knew where both the front and back doors were and when he's done outside, I let go of his leash and him run (his leash is 6' long though) alone to front door (if he tries to take off, though I probably couldn't catch him, I could just step on his leash).

Hopefully he'll be around for a long time to be with Becca.