Odie

Odie hasn’t lived under a lucky star. The last few years of his life have been full of pain and neglect. He wasn’t found as a stray as most dogs in the animal shelter are. He was abandoned. When all the bags were packed, the furniture was loaded, the last check made to make sure nothing was left behind, the doors were closed for the last time. His owner closed those doors with Odie on the wrong side. Odie had probably seen the door close many times before and waited patiently for his best friend to return. But that wasn’t going to happen again. He wasn’t coming back. After days of waiting, he was discovered alone inside the now empty house by the landlord when he came to check on his property.

Even that wasn’t the beginning of Odie’s suffering, though, not brought on by his owner but prolonged unnecessarily. When you look at Odie, there is a glaringly obvious injury to his front leg. After consulting with a specialist and getting X-rays, it was determined that he had suffered a very severe break. The grotesque angle of the leg and the dangling little paw scream “Needs Medical Attention Right Away.” But “right away” had long passed for Odie. The doctor’s diagnosis was the break had happened years before and had been allowed to heal over in that macabre position. His owner sat by for years and watched this little dog suffer and suffer and suffer. How horrible those first few weeks must have been. So we don’t even ask ourselves how could this person have left such a sweet dog in an empty house. He’d already proven himself heartless and unworthy of Odie’s love day after day, year after year. There was no question that this owner, had he even bothered to show up at the shelter would never be able to get Odie back. The cruelty at his hands is now over.

So that was Odie’s life, what we know of it. We couldn’t bear to have it end on that note. Such a sweet dog should go to Rainbow Bridge with better memories of the life he left behind, to wait for an owner who loved him, not be euthanized on a cold steel table with people who he had met for the first time only minutes before, who put a leash around his neck and walked him to this strange room where dogs can walk in but will never walk out.

Odie has a chance to gather those memories now, to save the pretty pictures of a wonderful life in his mind. He has two things standing in the way of a life free of pain. The first and arguably the most important thing right now is a FOSTER HOME. His surgery cannot be scheduled until he has a FOSTER HOME set up where he can quietly recuperate after surgery. Odie is a quiet little dog who gets along with other dogs and is content just to have a soft bed and a bone to chew on. He gets around very well on the three good legs that he has.

The second yet arguably most important thing is funding. Coastal rescues many many deserving dogs each year. We are only able to do that with the generous donations of people who share the same love for the dogs that we do. Odie has come to us at a time when we are racing against the clock to rescue dogs and most days it seems like a losing battle. We may rescue two dogs from the shelter, all the time pinching pennies to do it, only to find that three hours later five more have arrived, a time when our medical fund is SEVERELY DEPLETED and we are left at the end of the day with the face of that dog seered in our mind, the one we couldn’t save, asking ourselves, what if we had had just one more dollar, just one more foster home, just one more day?

If you are interested in meeting me, please contact Teresa via email at baltao@sbcglobal.net. Don't forget to fill out our online application.

The minimum adoption donation ranges from $350 to $500. This amount only partially covers the cost of veterinary care, boarding fees, and other miscellaneous expenses involved in the temporary care and adoption of our dogs and is 100% tax deductible.

Prior to placement, all dogs will be spayed or neutered, receive current vaccinations, and are usually microchipped. If not, arrangements will be made on an individual basis. Special consideration may be given to those willing to adopt older dogs or dogs with physical problems.

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