Odin the English Mastiff had a good life in Langley.
And now, thanks to Langley City Fire Rescue members and friends of Judy Head, he’s had a comfortable death, a death befitting a beloved pet named for a Norse god.
The 180-pound dog had lost his will to live, Head explained.
“He has had spinal arthritis, a knee replaced and a history of kidney ailments. He was tired. We knew his time had come,†she said.
Born in Texas, he had been a member of the family since a puppy, almost seven years ago. He quietly slipped away from the family home in Brookswood on June 20. Odin went 30-feet down into a nearby ravine. They found him on Father’s Day.
Head called on friends but they could lift him.
“One of them went and bought him a $25 steak and fed it to him – the last meal,†she said.
They called the SPCA and a representative attended.
Head also sought help from the City fire department.
“We had two fully manned fire trucks with all the personnel on scene, along with the SPCA. They carried him out on the stretcher and he looked like royalty on a chariot,†she said.
A procession of two fire trucks, the SPCA vehicle, and three passengers vehicles convoyed him to the Animal Emergency Hospital in Langley.
“All the firefighters came to help move him into the hospital,†she added.
Odin, instead of dying alone in the woods, was euthanized, surrounded by family. Head smiles when she thinks about Odin on his final kingly procession.
Head, a single mother of two, can’t say enough about the firefighters and others who came to help when the family was going through a crisis.
“The firefighters also handed out stuffed animals to all the kids who were at the house with their parents who had come to try and help, and to my daughter, who was losing her beloved pet,†she said.
