Odie Dedication!

Odie’s Dedication!

How do I begin to explain a friend like Odie? I guess at the start of what was to be a healing process for me and a new best friend called Odie.
Let me start briefly with a little opening, in late Autumn of 2005, I was diagnosed with chronic rheumatoid arthritis. There were days when I could not bring myself to even walk down the hallway without feeling I would tumble over, all this set me off into a depressed state and I was only 50.
On one of my better days in March of 2006, I wondered into the Petland, here in Red Deer Alberta, not really looking for a pet, much less a dog, and there he was on the other side of a glass partition, a black face with brown eyes- playing by himself and peering out from the store window at passersby’s. I have no idea what possessed me, but I asked an attendant to let me see the pup. As soon as Odie was placed in my arms, I was smitten. The story behind Odie was, he was 3 months old- had been purchased a week before, only to be returned within 8 days, allergies the people claimed. He instantly became mine.
As the first days came and went with Odie, I found myself in a whole routine, getting up early in the morning to sit on the kitchen floor to feed him, then put on his leash and go for a walk. Odie in those first months loved warm rice with peas for a start to his day. He would venture in the back yard for an hour in the morning after our walk, then find his way to my chair and find a reason for me to get up. He soon learned to play ball, fetch it over and over- tug-of-war with a stuffed animal, a long stuffed toy duck was his favourite. From the beginning it was apparent of Odie’s intelligence. If I said *squeak* he would run for the duck, squeaking it over and over again in amusement. He would race from my chair around the room, getting me up to chase him, barking and rolling at the same time. In the late afternoon after picking up the house, fighting Odie over getting the towels out of the dryer, (Jack Russell’s’ are a very busy breed). He would sit in my lap for a good hour getting me to stretch him, work over his back with a massage, getting to work out my own pained hands. As hyper as people have made the Jack Russell out to be, most have no clue at what a loving and thoughtful pet & best friend they can be.
As the months went by, the more I found myself telling people what a wonderful dog Odie was. I am sure I bored people with my consistent chatter about my friend, but he had become my best companion and therapy without my ever knowing it.
Odie did all the usual tricks, sit, lay, shake... but he did more, there was not a day that went by that he did not have my husband and myself cracking up laughing. If I went in for a bath, Odie was behind me, on my heel catching up, always looking to say “What are we up to now?” If I was on my way downstairs, he was with me, right by my side. When I talked to Odie, he never took his eyes off mine, he was intense. He became my constant companion, from everyday events around the house, to car rides to town. Over time, Odie left me feeling anew. I had energy and found myself always on the move, hardly thinking of any pain, I was better and it was because of the best medicine in the world, Odie. I have never had a dog that could amuse me the way he can, the eyes always on me, following me, the soft warning barks he would give, showing me he had an eye out for house and home. If I said bath time, he would clear the top of the tub and stand, ready to be bathed. When we were heading down the hallway for bed, he was ahead of us, standing at the door, waiting to go in, flying onto the bed and under the covers. He knew he had a bed of his own on the floor by ours, but he was in with us, snoozing before the lights were out.
Without knowing it, Odie saved my life that day when I found him at the local pet store, he took care of me and never allowed me to feel sorry for myself, he gave me a reason to get off my butt and move. There never has been or will ever be a friend like Odie. How does one explain a 21 pound muscle friend who saw himself’ to be larger than life and more fierce than any creature on earth, Odie was protective, he was concerned, he was loving, he was bold.
I speak now of my best friend Odie, in a past tense. One morning, this past September, my husband and I left for breakfast, leaving Odie in charge of the house, to await a painter that was coming to redo our living room. I don’t know of Odie’s last moments that morning, but he must have confused by someone entering the house, for when the painter was bringing the ladder in the house, Odie ran out the front door. We looked for him day, called the local radio stations to leave run a broadcast on his being lost. We got the call every owner dreads, he had been run over a mile from our house. We claimed his small body that same day and he lays to rest now forever, knowing he was my smallest hero on earth. He saved me from pitying myself and still gives me a reason today to keep going, I have the best memories my a best friend anyone could person could ask for. Odie deserves a Hero’s praise, because he gave so very much in his short life, an unconditional love packed into a huge spirit with soft brown eyes!