Odin the dog was born into captivity.
This poor dog spent his whole life being chained up.
He was kept outdoors in chains and in deplorable conditions by a pair of breeders who horribly neglected several of their dogs.
“Odin was involved in a very severe neglect and abuse case. Someone concerned called in about his condition and several other dogs condition at a property. The scene was like something out of a nightmare. Odin was clinging to life, severely underweight, with several skin infections, mange, intestinal worms, heartworms, and extremely broken teeth. He was hardly recognizable as a dog, much less a majestic malamute,” Odin the Rescue Malamute Funds Facebook page says.
Odin, who is supposed to be a fluffy Alaskan malamute, was completely unrecognizable when he was rescued.
The Southern Pines Animal Shelter and Southern Cross Animal Rescue of Mississippi, who rescued Odin, knew that the dog needed to be rushed to the vet and given special care in a loving foster home.
Odin was placed with Sydney Schelkopf who was shocked by the dog’s gaunt appearance.
“Poor Odin looked like he was taken straight out from a nightmare,” foster mom Schelkopf told The Dodo. “He was emaciated, almost completely hairless, covered in wounds, with cracked and broken teeth, and incredibly weak. He had a putrid smell to him from his horrible skin infections. Basically whatever could be wrong, was with this poor guy!”
Odin’s emotional wounds were just as bad.
This poor dog didn’t even know how to act when he arrived in his foster home.
He was confused by his newfound freedom to walk around and be off of his chain.
As you can imagine, this broke Schelkopf’s heart knowing that Odin was never allowed to, well, be a dog.
She wasn’t even sure if he had ever been in a house before.
“He sniffed around the whole house and kept looking back at me like, ‘What’s the catch?’ For weeks after I got him, he would just lay in a spot. I couldn’t get him to play with toys or act like a ‘normal dog,'” Schelkopf said.
Eventually, Odin realized that he was safe and even loved in his new home.
Schelkopf couldn’t stand to put Odin through the trauma of being put into a new home so she decided that she would adopt him.
“The second night I had brought him home, he was brave enough to come to bed with me,” Schelkopf said.
“He climbed onto the bed and just threw his bony body on me, looked up at me with such heartfelt eyes and sighed in such a loving embrace. I knew Odin had finally found where he needed to be.”
But Odin’s journey was far from over.
Odin would need a lot of medical attention and time to heal.
And he did.
Odin’s transformation is absolutely incredible. He looks completely unrecognizable and like a completely different dog.
Though he looks way better, Odin is still healing.
But he’s getting stronger each day.
“He is currently undergoing heartworm treatment which has been a huge battle,” Schelkopf said. “We have our good days and our bad days. Once all our heartworm treatment is done, we are going to have some corrective surgery on his teeth. Unfortunately, a lot of them are in bad shape, and we are going to do everything we can to get them as best as we can!”
You can donate to Odin’s medical funds here. Once all his medical stuff is cleared out of the way, Odin can enjoy his life running and playing and being loved. He can finally live the life he’s always deserved.
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