something about odie

one of my biggest fears with odie (besides that he might bite the wrong person and get me sued) was that he would get suddenly ill and require medical diagnostics and treatment again. even if it was something easily fixable...not one second of it would be easy to fix because odie flipped out with any and all medical stuff.
except his insulin..he let me give that to him morning and night. he did try to eat the staff on the odd day that i couldn't do it but since 99% of the time it was me, he was ok.

unfortunately this time around, there was no miracle cure.

i have said several times today. i never envisioned such a peaceful and gentle passing for our difficult and hyper-reactive friend. i was sure that when the time came for odie to pass from this life, he would make it violently horrible.

i was wrong.
with a little encouragement to keep him on his feet and some help when he stumbled, odie calmly walked to my car and waited patiently while i lifted him in. we stopped at mcdonalds and i bought him some sausages and he ate them gently from my fingers. he then walked cooperatively into the clinic on his own steam and then laid down. he allowed the vet to fully examine him, even allowing his temperature to be taken without a single protest or fuss. it was so classically advanced and end stage lymphoma, there just was not really any doubt.
odie accepted his initial pre-med sedation injection without issue and was soon sound asleep odie was unaware of the final injection that ended his life.

you know odie was most likely one of our biggest ever pain in the asses...there are quite a few of us that bear the marks of his teeth. we all ran interference to keep everyone else safe. and that mostly meant keeping odie from getting upset and flipping his lid.

but there was something special about odie that made each and every one forgive him for so many times of being a total dick. he had this innocent charm and an angel's face that melted all of our collective hearts.

i see him tossing his ball around in the kitchen, sound asleep with squirt curled into his tail, i can feel his foot poking me to remind me i am supposed to be sharing my meal. i see odie bouncing around rough housing dogs on all four feet, or joining in a game of chase, thinking he was playing with the other dogs (but they really kept him safely on the periphery in case he changed his mind and got pissed off.) whenever he felt unsure or if he was sick or hurt, he wanted to be as close as he could to benny...benny made him feel safe. i can still see him getting up and insisting on leaving the house whenever he heard me start to cook. he knew damn well i was going to burn something and set off the smoke detectors and they hurt his ears. he wouldn't come back in until he knew for sure the oven and overhead fan were off..then it was safe to come back in and see what i cooked.
odie had a ton of personality in many different ways! he was fun, he was exasperating, he was funny, he was stubborn and he was a freak out who too many times freaked on somebody with his teeth.
he was our much loved, royal pain in the ass odie...all kinds of stuff rolled into one heck of a dog.

it has been a tough couple of weeks of loss...preacher, tess and odie...three incredibly strong and vibrant spirits that all of us loved.

rest in peace odie capote, where ever you are..please try to be a good dog!

the kitchen is so empty without you.