OTIS
February 10, 2009 - April 10, 2023
Our Gentle Giant, Mama's Puppy, the Old Man.
The day I've been dreading has finally come to pass. Our dear sweet Otis has gone to Puppy Heaven. Although our hearts are broken, we must venture on until it's time for us to join our much beloved Puppy-doodle.
Otis started his life as an abandoned stray picked up by Animal Control. He was barely alive, but willing to fight for his survival.
He was adopted by a sweet college lady when he was about 5-6 months old. Unfortunately, when she got him home, her roommate's established Alpha dog took an instant and serious dislike to him.
After watching Otis get bullied by the other dog for a month, she decided it best to find him a new and loving home.
She placed an ad on craigslist and when I saw her ad, I couldn't reply fast enough in the hopes that we would be chosen as his new family.
She contacted me and said she had tons of replies, all saying "I'll take him, what's the address?" She then commented about how I sent her an actual resume.
Well, I thought it best to let her know what we had to offer this sweet little boy.
She said because of the massive response, she was going to have an open house that weekend so everyone can meet him. She asked if I would attend and I flat out told her NO. He was already in a high stress situation and I would not be adding to the confusion he is going through.
We made arrangements for her to bring Otis over to see if he would approve of us. It was love at first sight from John and me.
We were on the pool side of the property and Otis spent the longest time running, jumping and wagging his tail while his tongue flapped in the breeze. I looked at the lady, she had tears streaming down his face. She said she had never see him so happy. Every few minutes, Otis would stop his romping just long enough to give me a kiss and then he was again off to the races.
I suggested we go to the other side of the property so I could show her what would be his Kingdom. We left Otis inside with John for some male bonding.
When we got back into the house, John was sitting on the couch with Otis snuggled up in John's arms. They were watching a Yankees game on TV.
We took Otis back to the pool side again for some more flying around. He ran up to me and I asked him if this was a place he would like to spend the rest of his life. He looked at me and gave me a kiss on the hand, the lady broke in to tears.
One thing lead to another and before we knew it, John and I were the proud happy parents to this bundle of joy and love.
That night, Otis spent the night laying on his back in the bed with us snoring up a storm with his feet sticking straight up in the air.
The next morning, I took him to Petco, hooked him up with a leash and then we went shopping. Everything he put his sloppy face on, I put it in the cart. When we got home, we spent the rest of the day playing with his new bounty of presents.
As time went by, we realized that Otis wasn't just smart, he was scary smart. We taught him everything we could, including opening and closing doors which took us all of about 5 minutes. Through time and tons of training, he knew what each room was called, he knew our friends by name and could do nearly everything we asked. He also got to where he could put words together to understand sentences. After Michael Jackson died, we taught Otis to Moonwalk which turned out to be a very popular "stupid dog trick" for everyone who visited.
Otis was the most gentle, non-aggressive dog I have ever known. He loved everything and everyone. He considered everyone to be his new best friend. Otis had a very gentle soul, unconditional love for everyone and everything he happened across.
We started thinking that his personality and temperament was too fantastic to let it go to waste, so because of Otis we decided to foster rescue puppies who were robbed of their first chance for a happy life. We knew that Otis had a wonderful demeanor that would rub off on puppies to make them fantastic family members for others.
We have fostered many dozens of puppies and Otis was key in raising all of them. He loved all of our puppies so much and had total patience while trying to teach them everything he knew. All of our puppies loved Otis more than life itself. Otis was instrumental for saving many puppies lives by giving them a piece of his soul. The puppies thought of Otis as a playground and he always had someone climbing on him or using him for a pillow, a mattress or a shade tree.
I've often said if all dogs were like Otis, there would be no reason for Animal Control.
He loved hunting gophers and could track them in their tunnels, collapse the exits and drag the little varmints out of their hiding places. He caught a gopher one day, took it over to a 5-gallon bucket full of water, dropped it in and spent the rest of the day staring at it.
When John got home, Otis ran to him, grabbed him by the pant leg and took him to the bucket to show his daddy what he did. He was so proud of himself!
Otis loved the swimming pool, a total water dog. He also helped to turn many puppies in to water dogs as well.
He especially loved to dive for his Kong ball...
But sometimes, he didn't quite make it...
I could go on forever about Otis, but I'll just share one of my favorite stories about the best compliment we ever received about him.
We took Otis with us to the feed store in Escondido. Otis loved the feed store and going for rides. On the way home we decided to stop at Arby's for lunch. As usual, Otis was sticking his head out of the window looking for anyone in their cars or on the sidewalk that he could have a conversation with. Otis was always a huge social butterfly.
When we got to the Arby's driveway, the right turn lane was filled with police cars. An officer looked over at us and I called out to see if we could turn right from the center lane we were in.
He said yes and that's when he noticed Otis wanting to talk to him. The officer said "How much does your dog weigh?" I told him and then he said "That's a good looking dog...That's a REAL good looking dog!" We said thank you as the officer turned around to finish handcuffing the guy he was in the middle of arresting.
John and I were dumbfounded as we looked at each other wondering if we really saw what we think we just saw.
My baby's final days were not pleasant.
On Good Friday night, he really went down hill. He couldn't keep his food down, he was drooling, dry heaving, panting and was unresponsive.
John was in tears, he thought Otis was about leave us.
We stayed up with him all night doing all we could to ease his discomfort.
The next morning, Otis appeared to be doing better than the night before. I gave him chicken soup and ice cream for breakfast and he was able to keep most of it down. As soon as night fell, Otis wasn't able to keep anything down again.
We moved the queen size mattress to the living room and John slept with Otis. John didn't get any sleep as Otis spent the night as sick as could be.
Easter morning, Otis was sicker than I have ever seen. I decided to take a more direct approach with John. Instead of me saying "I think we need to consider"...I changed it to "This cannot continue, it's time to face reality, Otis deserves better than this, it's time to let him go".
John finally agreed and I started doing what I could on Easter Sunday to find an in-home euthanasia vet.
I reached out to Tesla's mama for a referral since she went through the same thing with Tesla just a few months earlier. I contacted the person who unfortunately did not service our area of San Diego.
I then reached out to Scootch's mama for a referral. Scootch is one of our former foster puppies and her mama is a veterinarian.
She suggested "Lap of Love". I contacted them and we made an appointment for 4:00 the next day.
One of the most precious and memorable events happened that day. John's friend Damon was always at the top of the list of people Otis loved the most. Damon came by to see Otis one more time. When Otis saw him, his eyes lit up and he wagged his tail. Damon sat next to Otis and Otis laid there for the longest time kissing Damon's arm. It had been days since we saw Otis all bright eyed and wagging his tail.
It was so obvious that Damon's visit was exactly what Otis needed.
When Monday rolled around, it was obvious that Otis was dying. He wouldn't eat or drink anything. I took him outside and all he did was stand there vomiting.
I had an Oncologist appointment that morning and I decided to call and reschedule. Otis was my highest priority and everything else came in at a distant second.
I then contacted Lap of Love and asked if they could come earlier, I couldn't take seeing Otis in so much pain any longer. They agreed to come at 1:00. We spent those few final hours talking to Otis, letting him know that it's okay for him to leave us. We told him to find Tesla when he's in Puppy Heaven. We told him a million times that we love him so much and we will miss him terribly, but some day we'll see him again and he better be the first face I see when it's my turn to go. Until then, we welcomed Otis to visit us whenever he wants to and look in on us once in a while.
I felt like my world was coming to an end when the doctor arrived.
She was fantastic and made the entire experience very calm and peaceful. We thank her for the gentleness she showed to all of us.
I want to thank everyone for extending their concern and well wishes to us. Everyone knows how much Otis meant to us and we really appreciate the kind words.
When we adopted Otis, we promised to make him the happiest puppy in the world and that's exactly what we did. He never had to want for anything and if he wanted it, it was his. He loved his home, the swimming pool, the constant flow of puppies, humans and everything around him.
We almost lost Otis a few years ago. He suddenly couldn't stand up and was in pain. We took him to the vet and found out that he had advanced arthritis on his spine and his knees had torn cartilages.
The vet suggested it was time to let Otis go. I looked at John who was sitting on the floor with Otis on his lap. Tears were streaming down his face. I told the vet that we couldn't let him go just yet. We had just lost M'Buzi, our little old lady dwarf pygmy goat the previous week, we can't lose another precious family member so soon.
Otis and M'Buzi had a very special relationship. M'Buzi considered Otis to be her boyfriend and Otis was more than fine with their arrangement.
The vet prescribed many drugs for Otis and wished us luck.
After a few weeks, Otis was back to his old self again.
I cannot tell you how grateful we were for the extra few years Otis gave us.
I really want to thank you Otis for 14 wonderful years of memories, you made life so much fuller and happier for us.
Not a day went by where Otis didn't do something to make us smile.
I especially want to thank Marissa for knowing that she could not have found a better home and family for Otis. We all thank you from the bottoms of our broken hearts.
We will never forget you, Puppy. We love you so much and always will.
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