Almost five years ago.....

TLOMIL and I were working in the ‘couve and staying the weekend to head over to Galliano Island with friends. Our friends had cats that needed care over the weekend, on the way to the ferry we stopped to drop off a house key at their dog walkers house. We went inside to meet the ladies, while there we met this guy,

This is Ollie, the day after the marathon day and night before, hahaha! He had been living at the house in Vancouver for two years as a Foster Dog, by way of a kill shelter in Arlington, Texas. He was rescued, but with no room in the inn so to speak was shipped to Vancouver for fostering and then forgotten. He was loved in the ‘couve but not in the best setting as big dogs picked on him every day. He came to us after a five hour delay for his flight, in the middle of a snow storm. TLOMIL was away so the rest of us piled into the van at midnight, with the steady handed Boy at the wheel. The poor little guy was overwhelmed.

It took a while for him to love us, but mere days, ok a couple of weeks for him to fall madly in love with our Big Dog, Mar (whom we miss soooo much).

You know how it goes with dogs right dear imaginary reader? I know Ollie has been as sad as we are with Mar’s passing, and probs a bit freaked out with the resemblance in both looks and actions with the Murph dog. Ollie came to us afraid of thunderstorms or any loud noises. Seeing a man in dark clothing, baseball cap and sunglasses and look out, you would think he was a guard dog on the attack. He has settled in well over the almost five years, he is such a snuggler.

I am sitting at my perch trying to keep my eyes open all in the name of supporting Ollie. Last night band after band of thunderstorms rolled through our neck of the woods. Of course, being a spidey dog, he knew they were coming before even a rumble was made and he began to quiver. I was asleep and didn’t get his jacket (above) on in time to help the poor soul. There was lots of tight snuggles, soft gentle words spoken with reassuring slow rubs. We would just get back to sleep and another band would come on through. Earlier in the day he had been helping me do some travel goodie sorting -

At around 4:15 a.m. I felt the quivering again and then the beep. Not sure how long it had been going on, it took me a while but -

I killed the dastardly smoke detector! Let’s be serious, I had to turn off the power but not before I had let Ollie outside by the pool for a pee and a respite from the noise. He was shaking so hard he could hardly walk! Power off, I went to the back door to let him in - no dog. For what felt like an hour, no dog! Panic was setting in, I ran inside to grab a flashlight, ran back outside in just a tee shirt and my gotch running around our pool enclosure like a fool. Thank goodness it was the middle of the night so that none of our neighbours were shocked, hahah! The pool was clear - whew! Panic was rising, I was in tears - he was not responding to his name. And then, I looked harder in the pool garden. There, hidden under ground cover and Adams Needles was Ollie, sound asleep. Be still my heart dear imaginary reader!

I was so anxious that I couldn’t sleep until after 6 this morning. He of course looks something like this right now

Ahh the life of a dog, I feel like dirt but he is good. Thats the important thing. Cheers to all of our pups dear imaginary reader!