Ozzie
Remembering a furry friend
I first met Ozzie when I went to do a garden consultation for A — and K — at their beautiful residence, in late-summer of 2020.
As soon as I rang the doorbell, I heard deep-throated barking from inside the house. Barking that grew louder once K — opened the door, and out came Ozzie, all nose and huffle, to check me out.
Ozzie was a very large dog, some sort of Shepherd/Lab cross I think. But, for all his size, intimidating demeanour and scary bark, he was as gentle as a lamb. The most agressive he got was when he spotted a bus — any bus — go by the house, this would cause him to bark angrily. K — said it was because Ozzie thought the buses were taking kids away.
After we met, and once Ozzie had given me a thorough sniff, and had established that I did not pose an imminent threat to the family, he lumbered off and flopped down on the front lawn.
While K — gave me a tour of the huge garden, Ozzie languidly followed along, snuffling things. He was never more than 20 paces from wherever K — was.
While we were in the front garden, Ozzie patrolled the roadside fence, waiting for buses, which he could see through the wraught iron fence (see photo below)
However, once we headed for the back garden and K — went out of sight, Ozzie was immediately on it, through the back gate, relaxing only once he spotted K — again.
I began working with K — on the garden rehab project in August of 2020. There was a lot that needed to be done, including tree and shrub pruning and garden bed redefinition, and because of the extent of the work we needed to do, I was there quite frequently.
Ozzie was used to having free run of the place and was surprised when I explained that certain areas were no longer accessible. To help soften the blow, I started bringing special dog biscuits for him. At first he was coy about taking them, but once he got a sniff of the special bacon and cheese flavoured ones, he was in. He still was not happy about being kept out of the various garden beds. I guess he didn’t realize that a body like his would crush everything in sight.
Once we began to dig the garden beds up, remove weeds and add spring bulbs and assorted perennials, Ozzie had to stay out of those areas. He would stand around quizzically looking at places he had previously figured were his, note that we were in them furiously digging, do the equivalent of a shrug, and figure out a different placed to cool off in.
Once some of the bulbs and perennials got going, the formerly rather bare bed was a veritable jungle.
Ozzie always knew when I arrived, whether or not I rang the doorbell. He would kick up quite a ruckus until he could come out, and once he verified it was me, would head straight for me, nose out, snuffling, tail lazily waving, looking for those cookies. He would then take one very gently from me and take it over to a shady spot to enjoy on his own time while keeping an eye on what we were doing.
Usually K — would be out doing all the heavy work involved in improving his garden, while I directed. As usual, Ozzie would never be more than 20 feet away. If K — went inside or to a different part of the garden, Ozzie would watch closely to determine if he needed to get up and follow him. I never saw Ozzie rush, except for bus action. He would always casually amble along.
K — was always worried when I was working in the poolside beds, concerned that I might fall in. You can see in the photo below how narrow the space is, and for a klutz like me, the opportunities were endless.
Ozzie also didn’t like it and would hover around looking a bit miffed while I rooted around in the bed. Until K — went out of sight, then he would immediately trundle off to find him, leaving me to take a possible plunge into the pool. (Fortunately for me, this never happened…)
We decided to tackle the front garden first. The area shown in the photo above was the first we tackled. Ozzie was quite annoyed because he liked to plough into the undergrowth and sniff about. Soon, as we worked, large batches of weeds and clods of earth went flying about, with Ozzie coming out festooned with plants and loose dirt and giving us the stink eye.
He was not particularly impressed with the finished work, since that area was soon to be off limits to him. We had pruned the bushes, dug up a batch of invasive weeds and created a nice new flower bed filled with perennials. Ozzies’ first reaction was to tromp in over the new bed, showing little appreciation for all our hard work. (Well, mostly K —s ’ hard work. LOL)
After a few discussions, and more cookies, Ozzie pretty much stopped trampling over the new area.
Our next fix up project was an odd bed at the foot of the driveway, which had an ugly utility post, a large patch of peonies, a huge Cottonwood tree and an unruly Swamp Maple tree in it.
This happened to be a spot favoured by Ozzie. He could sit behind the Peony patch, in among the weeds and the low-growing branches of the Swamp Maple. From this vantage spot he could keep an eye on K — , the road, the sidewalk, the driveway and the house. All while remaining hidden and in the shade.
Once we decided on renovating that area, Ozzie would stand about on the driveway, glowering at us. The big old Cottonwood had to be pruned and the weedy Swamp Maple was cut down. This left a big gap. So we decided to put a trellis there and plant vines and large perennials to help fill it in. Naturally Ozzie still wanted to get into that area, and was miffed to find he no longer had that nifty hiding space. He was not impressed.
While we were quite pleased with the results, and were fairly successful in filling the area with colourful plants, and partially disguising the ugly utility pole, Ozzie would meander over from time to time and glower at his former hiding spot, then at us. His thoughts were quite plain.
By the end of 2022, the garden had really undergone a change, and my work was close to done, save for a few tweaks.
I returned in May of 2023 to help in the selection and planting, of annuals for additional colour pops around the various beds.
Ozzie was right there to help out and to get his cookies.
He had slowed down a bit, but really looked good and was still angrily barking at buses every chance he got. I was able to give him some extra pats and a few extra cookies before I left, but that was the last time I saw him. That was because June 1st, 2023, I had a stroke and was unable to get to any of my garden clients for the rest of the year.
In December of 2023, I emailed back and forth with K — , who said everything was good and Ozzie was still going strong, though a bit less energetic and the stairs were giving him a bit of trouble.
Then February 26, 2024 I received an email from K — telling me that they had sent Ozzie over the Rainbow Bridge that day. He had cancer in his intestines, could not eat or drink and was unable to move.
It was time.
R.I.P. Ozzie, my old friend. A fine old gentleman, one that I was honoured to call a friend.
