In summer of ’89 we took her to a fine obedience course, which polished whatever rough edges her wonderful personality might otherwise have had. Almost everyone who ever met Odie felt that she was a very special dog.
While her life was too short, we think it was a happy one as a relatively free-ranging Santa Cruz Mountain dog. From announcing this page to some neighbors, we learned that they call the bend of Old Ranch Road at our driveway “Dog Corner”. This probably dates back to when Odie’s teacher / mentor in dog matters, our neighbors’ black Lab “Cleo” who lived to almost twice Odie’s age, would sleep in the middle of the road at springtime noons, that being the warmest and sunniest place in our wooded surroundings.
Like many retrievers in today’s society, the chief love of Odie’s life was fetching thrown tennis balls. She would chase deer off as intruders, but even at her best had nowhere near the speed to make such chases very rewarding.
At age 6 in September of ’95, she contracted cancer in her jawbone. By the time we knew what we were dealing with, half of her jaw had to be surgically removed. She had to learn how to eat and drink all over again, but her great spirit and courage prevailed, and she spent almost 3 more happy years with us.
The “El Nino” winter of 1997-98 was hard on Odie, which we
attributed to the impact of the cold on her arthritis. In June of 1998 we
learned that she was riddled with cancer.
She died on June 20, 1998. The picture at right was taken on the last day
of her life. See how fine she still looks, despite all that was wrong
with her!
No finer dog can be imagined!!