A search Greg could not explain
For nine months, Greg Carroll felt an overwhelming need to find a dog. He searched adoption websites and rescue organizations throughout California and beyond, watched rescue and training stories, and applied for a puppy who was ultimately adopted by someone else. The search became so intense that Greg began asking why the need for a dog felt so powerful.
During a morning walk beside a river, Greg sat down and prayed with tobacco. He asked Tunkasila why he wanted a dog so badly. The answer he received was that a dog would become his companion while he traveled between his children, clients and communities in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Letting go and asking to be found
One evening in Los Angeles, Greg’s friend Season encouraged him to stop searching so intensely, pray and allow the right dog to find him. Greg did exactly that. He asked that, if a dog was meant to come into his life, the connection would unfold easily and the dog would have a gentle temperament and be comfortable with children, cats, dogs and other animals.
The next morning, after Greg shared a message about the return of sacred white animals, Season told him she had a surprise. She showed him photographs and videos of a white dog staying at a ranch in Topanga Canyon with other dogs and horses. Her reminder about the sacred white animals made something click.
The first embrace
On September 15, 2019, Greg traveled to the ranch. A pack of dogs approached the car. When Greg stepped out, a handsome white pit bull came directly to him. As Greg knelt to greet him, the dog curled into his lap and embraced him.
The feeling of that embrace and the way they looked into one another’s eyes made the connection unmistakable. Greg felt as though they had known each other in another lifetime.
Welcome home, Ozzy
Ozzy had been rescued from Riverside Animal Shelter, where he had been at risk of euthanasia. Greg later met with the woman who helped save him, completed the necessary ownership-transfer documents and returned to bring him home on September 25, 2019.
Ozzy proved to be everything Greg had prayed for: affectionate, calm, gentle with his children and able to sit quietly beside him during sessions with clients. He became Ozzy also lovingly known as Mr. Cuddles the best wannabe lap dog and a deeply loved member of the family.
The beginning of a larger promise
What began as the rescue of one dog grew into something larger. Ozzy showed Greg how profoundly a four-legged relative can change a human life. Their relationship inspired the name, heart and purpose of Ozzy’s Rescue & Sanctuary: to help dogs experience safety, belonging, dignity and the opportunity to form life-changing bonds of their own.