We first saw Oscar in a video from the lady who fostered him in Turkey after he’d been rescued from a grim and overcrowded dog pound. We knew straight away he was going to be our Oscar. He joined us on 29 August 2016 probably about 5 years old, but no-one was too certain. Happy Paws, the fantastic charity that rescued him, asked if we would retain his name as it was the only thing he had he could call his own.
From the start he just fitted into the family. Ralphie and Ada, our other two dogs, took to him straight away. Here are just a few memories. But we’ve got a thousand more besides.
The comforting weight and warmth of his head in your lap as he slept next to you on the settee.
The contentment of sitting beside him on the floor with your arm round his sturdy shoulders.
The sight of him doing the retriever thing of sleeping in the doorway between the kitchen and lounge and then apologising to him if you accidentally kicked him when stepping over him. He never held a grudge though, just a quick glance from his dreamy eyes and he’d flop down again content and comfortable.
The mayhem as Team Temple went bonkers when we came back into the house after our brief trips away to hospital/dentist appointments. With Oscar doing his bounding leaps for joy and Ada and Ralphie whirling around us all. What a team they were together.
That look of sheer devotion as he rested his head on your knees.
The little joyful jig he did as his dinner was being prepared and the clonk he’d give Nicky with his paw to let her know his dinner was on its way.
His patience as you hooked out a chunk of biscuit that had got stuck between his back teeth and cheek and the pleasure he took from munching the fragment you found for him. It usually happened most evenings when he had his bedtime dog biscotti. Homemade dog biscotti made with flour, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and eggs (plus the shells) - Oscar loved them.
His magnificent flag of a tail as he paraded around on his walks. He always seemed so proud to be out and about with us but we were equally proud to be with him.
The pleasure Oscar took from being towelled down when he came in from the garden on a rainy day. So much pleasure he’d go straight back outside so you could do it all over again for him.
That look of contentment as he gazed out across the fields overlooking Chew Valley Lake where we went two or three times a year to visit our elder son and his wife. He loved it there, but thankfully when we got home he never turned his nose up at the view in our small garden.
That little nudge against your legs when he just wanted you to know he’s there - which he always will be.
We have never known a dog so grateful for every bit of human contact that came his way.
Thank you Mark and Rebecca for helping us keep Oscar going quite a bit longer than we had a right to expect. A combination of veterinary skills and Rebecca’s Canine Bowen Therapy did so much to keep Oscar content. Thanks to Shelley too for getting prescriptions sorted out when we’d forgotten to order them in time and keeping everything organised. We are so grateful to have had our dogs looked after by you. When the time came to say goodbye to Oscar, Mark took us gently through the process with such kindness and compassion and then we held our lovely boy as he drifted away.
The smell of him. The sound of him. The feel of him. The warmth of him. The sight of him. The joy of him. The memory of him. Our Oscar who died 11 April 2024.
