Odo the Orphaned Puppy ~ Adopted

Odo’s story is one to make your heart break. He is an Alabama dog. He was with his momma when she was hit and killed by a car. His owner put him and his littermates in the back of an open truck for the night. In the morning all but Odo had frozen to death. A short time later this teenager decided she no longer wanted Odo and brought him to Hale County Humane Society. When director Dee Sullins asked her why she hadn’t brought the all in earlier, her nonchalant answers was that she had thought she’d just keep them for herself.

Dee was beside himself with frustration: not only was the momma dead, not only were the littermates dead, but Odo was so filthy, matted and flea-infested that his eyes were matted shut and he had developed mange! I don’t envy the good people who work at shelters ~ they get to see the unvarnished ugly results of ignorant people not caring about or caring for animals….

Dee asked us if we would take Odo (called Bogie then) into our rescue. The firs time I saw his photo, him sitting in a sink that looked like a washing machine, I knew I most certainly would! And I’m glad I did.

Odo was one of the saddest puppies I have ever fostered. Despite the shelter’s herculean efforts, he still had matting in his fur, flaking skin, and a limp in his walk. And he didn’t really have puppy joy. My greatest concern was the limp ~ looking at him, his front left leg appeared to bow out and the foot turn in. I was concerned that it had been broken and was healing wrong. I took him to our wonderful vet at Aloma Jancy Animal Hospital. After checking him out and taking an x-ray, Dr. D. told me that he was not overly alarmed by what he was seeing. It appeared that the bone was bending somewhat (malnutrition I’m guessing), and put a splint on it to both straighten the bone and to give it support.

The results were immediate! As soon as we got home, Odo was playing with the other puppies, wagging his tail and looking happy. Either his leg had been hurting him before and the splint was helping or he just thought he looked downright sporty with his ultra-cool cast! Either way, my angel is on his way to rediscovering his puppy joy and I couldn’t be happier!

Be sure to check out his photo album.

If you are interested in adopting Odo, please review our adoption process and then contact me at holly.thedogliberator@gmail.com

February 5th:

Today was Odo’s big day! Annette and Penelope drove over from Tampa to get their little boy, and he was happy to see them. There is some serious spoiling in his immediate future! And fun too ~ he’ll be living with Annette, Matt, Penelope, Lula the Basset and Flash the Border Collie. Tampa will never be the same!!!