Oliver
On 31st March 2001, I was in the local shopping centre, about half a mile from where we live, and saw a cheeky little black and white dog, with a body like the donkey from Shrek and a beautiful Rottweiler-like head – an odd combination resulting in one of the cutest creatures I’d ever seen. He had a scruffy collar on – no ID and looked lost. Not knowing if his owners were around, I thought that I would come back down later and see if he was still there. I never got back down as Roo, one of my other dogs got herself stung by a wasp and I had to take her to the emergency vet.
Turns out I didn’t have to find him– he found me! At 7 o’clock the next morning – April Fools day (v appropriate) I opened the front door to find the fat little lump sitting on my doorstep. He had been kicked badly and was swollen and bruised, my heart burst, I swept him up in my arms and didn’t let go for 12 years.
April Fool was right. My Dad named him Ollie, and he was trouble with a capital T, mischievous, hilarious – a true comic genius. He made us laugh all the time with his antics. Just the look of him would cheer us up if we were down. Except when his antics went too far – like eating entire squeaky toys, whole packets of balloons, swallowing bones dug up from middle earth, and eating plasterboard and screws during a renovation!
As a result of this seriously omnivorous behaviour, his second home was The Animal Hospital and Paul and the staff knew Ollie inside better than out, Julie and Chrissie had the singular pleasure of having his guts draped over their arms like pounds of sausages on several occasions. They pulled him through procedures that would have defeated many. He thought of the practice as his own and was never nervous when he arrived, just jumped into his cage and chilled.
Against overwhelming odds Ollie always pulled through. He loved and fought for the life that he loved so much, with great tenacity and courage – he was a very brave little boy.
On the 11th August 2012, despite the best efforts of all HIS wonderful staff, kidney failure finally got Ollie. He passed away in our arms being softly spoken to and thanked for being such a wonderful boy.
Ollie was meant for us, and how blessed we were to have him. Our funny, loving little boy will always be with us. The pain of losing him, excruciating though it may be, is far outweighed by the joy we had of knowing him, loving him and being loved by him…
RIP Oliver Richardson 1999 – 2012
Follow us on...