Odie got neutered

Odie got neutered today, now it's time to work on getting him adopted. Here's the write up and some of the pictures I'm sending to Green Dogs for his posting.

Odin (Odie) is a Great Dane, about one year old, current on vaccines, and just recently neutered. Odie is house trained and crate trained. He doesn't mind going in his crate at night and he doesn't destroy his bed or chew on anything around the house. Odie lived with a small child in his original home and he's living with multiple dogs in his foster home. His house manners seems fine, but I do crate him at night and when I'm away. Odin is a rather serious name, but this dog is more of a goofy, playful dog, more like the dog Odie in the Garfield cartoons. He's young and hasn't had a lot of life experiences yet and he is scared in new situations unless he's with someone he knows and trusts. He is a big "leaner" so you should be prepared to support the leaning weight of a Great Dane. Odie loves to be close to his person as much as possible. He's a very personable and affectionate dog and he has a lot of love to give. He's probably about 100 pounds right now and he's not yet full grown. 

Plays well with others.

Dogs and dirt

Dogs are the best antidepressant, even if a dog is the reason you're depressed. For me, being surrounded by multiple dogs helps ease the loss of one. I've said before I don't know how people cope with the loss of a dog if they only had one. I am lucky to have nine others around here to help me process Maya's death in a somewhat healthy manner. 

The walk yesterday helped a lot, and the sunshine the past two days has helped as well. Today I added gardening to my canine therapy. I went out and bought plants and began planting the container gardens. Dogs and dirt. They go together like, well, like dogs and dirt. It's not always pretty, but for me, always therapeutic. 

Coming back from my first plant buying run today, I realized something about Maya that I sort of knew but didn't really appreciate. She would always wait for me to return, looking out the upstairs bedroom or the kitchen door. She knew the sound of my van and would react before anyone else, alerting them so that I was always met by a cacophony of barking voices before I even got to the house. Today I came home and everyone was quietly napping. It made the realize that the raucous greeting I always received was really all due to Maya. It was kind of sad, but it also made me appreciate her even more. 

Mercy, Odin, and Norman

 Norman, Odie, and Paisley

Mercy, Odie, and Bailey

Norman has really enjoyed running with the other fosters.

Norman and Odie. That's a whole lotta dog.

Paisley and Ford, with a tennis ball in his mouth.

Odie, Norman, Elvis, and Mercy

An overhead shot of one of my containers. 

There will be many more garden pictures in days to come.

Candace and Mercy

Candace wasn't out in the pasture because I thought there was a bit too much dog for her, but this evening she and Ford were out in the yard together and they played! I had never seen Candace actually engage in play with another dog. She sought Ford out for it.

Undoubtedly one of the prettiest pictures I've ever taken.

Beautiful shepherd (Mercy) in a field is buttercups.

Odie

Della

Bailey, our antelope

Odin, Ford, and Mercy

The new grass is getting tall and it's finally dry.

 I really hope my guy can get it cut this weekend.

Odie

Bailey, mid-pounce

Spring is a good time to be a dog around here.

Worthy successors

I want to thank everyone who expressed their concern and shared our grief over losing Maya. Things are different around here today, and we all know it, but no one seems quite sure what the changes will mean. 

I took up the two beds that Maya used, the one under my desk and right next to my side of the bed. I couldn't stand to see them empty and also didn't want to see anyone else occupy those spots just yet. While I was at my desk working today, I still kept my feet tucked under my chair as I did to avoid having them in Maya's space under the desk. That's an old habit that may take a while to change. 

The day started out quite chilly, but the sun was out and by afternoon it was really pretty nice. I took Maya's two most worthy successors, Della and Bailey, on a hike. 

Della and Maya always got along. They came to an understanding early on. Maya was at an age where she was happy to cede many of the female alpha dog duties to Della, who easily stepped into the role. Maya maintained what was most important to her, which was her status as my little girl giving her the right of closest proximity to me at all times, hence her bed under my desk and right next to my bed at night. 

Bailey is still very much a puppy and she was always deferential to both Della and Maya. By the time Bailey came along Maya wasn't doing much hiking with me anymore and she was happy enough to let Bailey take up the slack there. The two girls did hunt together in the pasture a lot and I have no idea what all Maya may have taught her, good or bad. 

No dog will ever replace Maya, but her roles around here will get divided up among the remaining dogs by necessity. I expect Della and Bailey will work things out between them in a power sharing arrangement that suits them and the needs of the household.

I gave Bailey an "up" command and she immediately started looking for something to jump up onto. She is also getting pretty good with "left" and "right" verbal commands, which Maya had mastered, at trail intersections.

The Rivanna river was looking very pretty today in the background.

I had missed the Virginia bluebells, but found other wildflowers in bloom, including these wild rhododendrons. 

And of course the dogwoods are in bloom now.

Four miles, good for my whole body and my soul today.