Ozzie's Story, part 1, "The Twin"

I'm a believer that dogs choose you just as much as you choose them. I'm also a believer in fate, at least when it comes to dogs. Ozzie's arrival in our family is an illustration of those forces at work.

It started with a text from Jessica. Something to the effect of "Have you seen Demeter? He looks just like Brugge!" Jessica and I have a shared habit of trolling the county shelter's website on a daily basis. A throwback to our dogless days when we were both looking for a companion and the men in our lives hadn't quite warmed up to the idea of taking on that much responsibility. And then again when we were both looking for companions to our companions. Whatever the reason, it's a habit we can't break, and I'm not sure we want to.

I pulled up the animal list at the shelter. There he was, a 10-month-old carbon copy of our girl. Gut-wrenching. I had to go see him. Steven actually agreed to a trip up there; normally I'm forbidden for fear of an unexpected addition. Demeter had a winning personality and was sweet as honey, and indeed, very similar to our Brugge. Oh dear. But we already had Tim and Willem, we couldn't take another in as a forever dog right away. We left and hoped against hope that he would be adopted soon.

Two weeks went by and he was taken off the website. A little known fact is that can be a good or a bad thing. Our county shelter still euthanizes, as do most government shelters. It's a simple and tragic issue of numbers; too many animals, not enough resources. As I later found out first-hand, the staff do everything in their power to get these animals out of the shelter and into permanent homes or at least into their dedicated network of fosters. I called the shelter, my heart in my throat, and gave them his ID number (which I had memorized). He hadn't been adopted. He was sick with a URI. "URI" stands for "upper respiratory infection," or "kennel cough," as it's commonly known.

All dogs that come into the shelter are vaccinated, but the vaccine takes time to be effective and is hit or miss since there are so many strains of viral and bacterial causes. Our county shelter can treat the dogs for one round (assuming there's space), but many become sick a second time and face euthanasia unless they can find a foster home for the duration of their illness. It is a more forgiving policy than that of most shelters. It's a heartbreaking reality that upper respiratory infections run rampant in shelters, despite the best efforts of the staff. You know those signs that say "don't stick your fingers in cages?" Those are there for the animals' protection to help prevent the spread of disease. Our county shelter even provides gowns and gloves for visitors to wear to help protect the animals. But there's only so much that can be done around highly contagious, airbone pathogens.

I immediately signed up to be a foster. I was already fostering Tim and Willem with Pawfect, but I had my mind made up that I had to get that boy out, and I decided to take matters into my own hands. I attended a foster orientation and got to see the inner workings of the shelter. The staff and fosters are amazing people who, despite the things they see and experience ever day, have not lost their compassion and love for these animals. I cannot say enough good things about them and their efforts. I left that day with a very grateful Demeter. In retrospect, I probably wouldn't recommend rashly bringing a sick and contagious dog into your home with other fosters. I was able to quarantine him in a spare bedroom we use for a home office, and we were extremely diligent with keeping him and the other dogs separate as well as hand washing and shoe changing between visits. It was a great stroke of luck that the other dogs didn't get sick (although we had them all vaccinated).

His name had to change. "Demeter" was too much of a mouthful for me; I prefer one- to two-syllable dog names, something that can easily be called out for attention and recall. We decided to change it to Ozzie. He recovered beautifully from his URI and I committed to keeping him until he was adopted, but really at that point we had already fallen in love with him. And then things got interesting. Stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion! Hint; it has a happy ending.

Brugge and Ozzie on their first meeting post-quarantine.

Also, on an unrelated note, we've gotten an application in on Tim! Fingers crossed that this could be his forever family!