My friends, I give you our new dog, Ozzie. Ozzie is a four-year-old pitbull terrier mix who lived with a family for three years before he went into Orphans of the Storm animal shelter in Deerfield, Illinois USA. The family had two teenagers, another dog and a cat, so Ozzie is good with children and dogs one-on-one. We’ll work on his comfort with more dogs at the same time.

Ozzie is impressively well behaved. Bob and I took him for our first “family” walk last night, then pretended to eat dinner (just had a snack) so he’d learn that we are the alpha dogs. In the wild, the alpha dog eats first and it’s important that we establish who’s boss. Then we fed him dinner. Later he dozed on his bed while we had our real dinner and he didn’t even watch us eat. This dog clearly does not have food issues because the whole place smelled like my homemade meatloaf, but he stayed in the other room so there was no begging at all.

He also hasn’t barked hardly at all. He peacefully watches people walk by when he sits in the sunroom with Bob. And speaking of the sunroom, that’s an enclosed but unheated porch at the front of our apartment where Bob does all his smoking. Ozzie doesn’t mind the smoke! I’m amazed, but he and Bob seem to be the perfect match.

I like the name “Ozzie Martin.” It makes him sound like the old man who runs the cigar store and likes to tell stories about his family who’s originally from Ireland.

So far the plan is working: Ozzie adores Bob. I knew he would because Bob is a total dog lover. I’m hoping to become more of a dog person as time goes on. I know Ozzie will be sad to see Bob go to work later today, so I’m planning to pour on the affection and fun times. I’m looking forward to jogging with him.

(P.S. “Martin” is our last name. The dog only goes by one name.)

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