This is Odin, a young dog from California. He is a great hero. This is his story. His job on the farm was to look after a herd of eight goats. Last year, during the horrible wild fires, the fire took a sudden turn and threatened Odin's farm. The farmer didn't have time to get the goats in his trailer, but he hoped he'd be able to save his dogs, cats and daughter in the car. He tried to get Odin into the car, but Odin wouldn't leave the goats behind. The farmer said the dog just sat down with the goats and he could see that Odin wouldn't budge, so he had to leave. As he drove away, he said the cars behind him had flames shooting out of their windows. That's how close the fire was.
Days later, the farmer returned to the farm. Every building had been destroyed, but Odin was still there and had saved all the goats! There was even a small herd of deer with him -- perhaps they trusted that Odin would take care of them as well. Poor Odin was limping and exhausted, his paw pads had been burned and his fur was orange from the heat of the flames, but he had done his duty and saved the lives he had been entrusted with. Look at his sweet, dear face. He doesn't expect glory, he just wants love.
I read about Odin when reading a story on the CBC about a dog, Chaser, who knew over 1,000 words. He just recently died after a long and happy life. His owner, John Pilley, was interested in animal intelligence and decided to see how many words a dog could learn. Chaser was taught by using toys. Pilley would ask him to find a certain toy and if Chaser brought that toy, then Pilley knew that Chaser had learned the name of the toy. It took a long time and the people had to write down the names, because they couldn't remember them all, but Chaser learned them! As I have learned over and over -- we know nothing about what goes on in an animal's mind. Any animal, even a bee, is a mystery to us.
As for dogs, what have we done as humans that makes us deserve the love and loyalty of such wonderful creatures? My own girl, Daisy, is very timid and nervous and would probably have been the first to jump in the car and abandon the goats and she's deaf, so we don't know if she understands any words any more, but when you look into her eyes, you know that she is a sweet, deep mystery and I am so glad we found her and gave her a home. Her life before she came to us was very difficult. (I've told her story before in this blog.) When she first arrived, she was very frightened and hid in the basement and tried to run away whenever it was 5 o'clock in the evening and ripped her dog crate to pieces on Hallowe'en (we thought it would help her feel safe -- we didn't keep her in it at any other time) and wedged herself between the washing machine and the wall once when there was a storm and was just generally terrified. She had been returned to the SPCA twice and when we said we would take her, the SPCA lady said we had to be sure because she couldn't be returned again (I don't know what that meant, but obviously, if a dog is returned three times, she's probably not adoptable). We said we were dog people and had had lots of dogs and would not bring her back. And we didn't. We learned that Daisy needed lots of walking to work through her anxiety and we accepted that she is not a touchy-feely kind of dog -- she will submit to patting, but never seeks it out. She learned that she can trust us and that she doesn't ever need to be afraid that we won't love her and treat her kindly. And in our darkest days, she has been there to watch over us and comfort us. We have done a good job looking out for each other.
Thanks to Odin and Chaser and Daisy and all the other dear dogs out there who do their best every day!
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