Meet our new family member Odie the beagle/basset hound

photo of beagle/bassett hound Odie w/new dad Lorenzo
Father & Son Photo: Lorenzo w/our new canine son Odie

Lorenzo and I have been soul searching about adding a canine son or daughter to our family.  Our old dog Barney is with us in spirit, but not body, since he passed away under doctor’s care 12/1/10 at almost 14 years of age.  We wanted a mid size or small rescue dog.   Above all we wanted a dog whose spirit was very kind and gentle and agreeable towards all living things, a buddha dog.  🙂  Yesterday we found our buddha dog, and he is now our son, peacefully dozing on our floor as I type this.  His name had been Otis, but we have renamed him to Odie, after cartoon Garfield’s doggie friend.  It’s only right, since Lorenzo is a cartoonist.

Odie was in a shelter in Kenosha, WI.  We learned about this shelter through Petfinder.com, which is a website where most rescues and shelters nationwide list their pets available for adoption.  I also searched several area rescue’s websites that I know personally through my animal welfare volunteering in years past, and present day donations here and there.  I showed my husband a photo of one shelter dog whose photo and description moved me who was in Kenosha, WI.  We then noticed that Kenosha, WI was only 55 miles from us and that they had three dogs on their site that we liked.  We felt it was a sign, and that we were meant to go there.  I cleared my schedule for that next day, we filled out the online application, and off we went to Kenosha, WI yesterday, arriving just as they opened their doors at 1pm.

beagle/basset hound on grass with Janet
Mom & new son: Me with our new buddha-dog Odie

Fate did all the rest.  The original dog I’d noticed had already been adopted, the third dog we liked was not good with other dogs, and the second dog, now our son, we learned had been waiting for the right forever home for SIX MONTHS.  He did have one brief adoption but they were not fully committed and/or knowledgeable, and brought him back.  Right away I got teary thinking of all the “long timers” I had known or heard about at Chicago Animal Care & Control during my 3+ years volunteering there.  It was just not fair that such a kind spirited dog had to go through so much, so he had to become our son.  Then to further validate our decision that this was meant to be, the shelter said they had recently decided to fix his cherry eye condition by surgery for free next Monday 7/11/11, and would also waive his adoption fee since he was overweight.  We had been prepared to pay any fees for our buddha dog, but it was a fun hug from the universe to receive such discounts.  We have already spent a little of the leftover money on a very handsome harness for his walks, and he is very earnestly learning what is expected of him as we do positive reinforcement training.

You can look forward to lots of videos on www.BarneysHomeDogBoarding.com and blog entries here about him.  Even though he’s only one day out of the shelter, it’s clear that the shelter told the truth, and that he really is great with all dogs and our cats and all people.   All the shelter volunteers came out to greet us and celebrate that their beloved long timer was finally going home for good.  I have already sent them an update with photos, and will keep sending them updates, to thank them for their faithful care of him.  We know he will be a kind and welcoming host to my reading clients that come to the house, and a wonderful friend and gentle companion to the peaceful big-hearted dogs that we board with www.BarneysHomeDogBoarding.com.  This six year old buddha dog is home at last.

6 Replies to “Meet our new family member Odie the beagle/basset hound”

    1. Yes just thinking about him waiting for that long still chokes me up. I’m glad we helped him break free. He first got to that shelter 1/3/11, a month and two days after our old dog Barney passed. I think Barney was trying to connect us all together the whole time but it took us a while to get the memo!

  1. Odie looks so happy to be home! I’m thrilled you were able to save a life and in turn, I’m sure he will play a role in saving yours. Congraulations on the new addition.

    1. Hi Juli! Thanks for comment! Yes Odie is very happy and relieved, and now he’s in that just got out of the shelter sleep for two weeks period. 🙂 Thank you for your kindness in responding to me as I fell in love with Marlo whom you were fostering for One Tail at a Time. You and Marlo were definitely major inspirations in this process. I am excited and know that we will receive a lot from having Odie in our family. It really was meant to be.

  2. Congratulations on the new addition. Odie is adorable, but I hope he’s brighter than his cartoon namesake! I’m sure he’ll fit in fine with the rest of the crew and be great company for all the doggie boarders at Barney’s, too. Have to ask: was this guy from the Angel PAWS group that pulls from CACC or was it another Kenosha rescue organization?

    1. Joyce thanks for the comment! He is smarter than his cartoon namesake, though when he is rolling around in the grass happily he is just as silly. I got the impression that this shelter gets lot of owner give-ups brought by local citizens to them directly, and I know they have strays somehow, and it seems they are “open admission” but I am not sure. I’ll call you about it. It’s not the group you mention. They felt like a very small version of Anti-Cruelty (in Chicago), for example. I did of course check the sites for several rescues I know and love that pull from CACC, but by intuition and fate we were lead all the way to Kenosha, WI!

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