This Goat-Herding Dog In California Would Not Abandon His Flock Despite The Raging Fires – And It’s Everything

Dogs, babies, and old people, y’all.  They are my collective Achilles’ heel.  And when I saw this story about Odin – a goat-herding Great Pyrenees in California that absolutely refused to leave its flock during the Tubbs fire on his property – oh, my heart.

Not only did he protect and not leave his flock, but “also seems to have adopted several baby deer who were huddled around him for safety.”

The family thought for sure that they left him for dead:

“…the family …watched Odin was they were departing, hoping they would see him again but knowing it was likely he would not survive.

“Even under the best of circumstances it is nearly impossible to separate Odin from the goats after nightfall when he takes over the close watch from his sister Tessa,” Hendel wrote. “I made a decision to leave him, and I doubt I could have made him come with us if I tried.”

The escape proved harrowing as the fire erupted along Mark West Springs Road. The journey through the flames would prove deadly for one of Hendel’s neighbors — Lynne Powell — but his family finally reached safety.

“Cars behind us on Mark West Springs Road were pouring flames out of the windows as they roared down the road,” he wrote on Facebook. “Later that morning when we had outrun the fires I cried, sure that I had sentenced Odie to death, along with our precious family of bottle-raised goats.”

But they returned to their land, and miraculously, Odin was there.  And it was glorious.

… fur burned, whiskers melted, limping on his right leg. The battle injuries suffered in his desperate fight with the flames.

Here’s some video of Odin (“Odie”) after his owners returned home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoVU9xQ0-4Q

This story – we all need this kind of story – it’s good for the soul.  And I love dogs beyond words, y’all.

All. The. Dogs.