Odie

Odie is the tritagonist of the Garfield franchise.

## Background

Odie was based on a car dealership commercial, written by Jim Davis, which featured Odie the Village Idiot. Davis liked the name Odie and decided to use it again. When Garfield was first submitted, Davis named the main dog character "Spot" before finding out that the name was already being used by another character (see Trivia section below). Odie first appeared in the strip on August 8, 1978; the date is considered his birthday. On that date, he was brought in by Lyman, a friend and roommate to Jon, who disappeared in 1983. Odie eventually became a pet to Jon Arbuckle and has remained so ever since. There are some strips which retcon Odie as being originally owned by Jon.

In the film series, where Lyman made no appearances, Odie's "origin" story was completely different: he was adopted by Jon at a veterinarian center.

## Odie

### Relatives

Jon Arbuckle (current owner)Lyman (former owner)Unknown mother

## Appearances

### Appears in

Garfield: The MovieGarfield: A Tail of Two KittiesGarfield Gets RealGarfield's Fun FestGarfield's Pet ForceGarfield and FriendsThe Garfield Show

### Debut

Garfield comics

Odie is the lovable, seemingly dopey, kind, underweight, yellow-furred, brown-eared beagle, who is Garfield's best friend (and usual victim). Garfield is jealous of Odie. Although Garfield says that he is dumb, Odie can be relatively smart on occasion. He is capable of communicating articulate sentences through barks. Garfield once described him as "honest, true blue, and decent." He is constantly panting with his very large tongue. He often drools huge puddles. The meanings of his barks are not actually discernible like one would assume, and are only made obvious by Garfield.

On the other hand, he does have a bit of a mean streak, like a lot of characters in the strip, as shown when he teases Garfield about his age when June 19, Garfield's birthday, is approaching, via either mimicking the facial expression of an elderly individual; putting a glass of water with dentures near his bed while he sleeps, laughing at his depression about getting older, and using a walking and snapping wind-up toy denture. He once tossed a bowling ball to Garfield to help him out of the tree, although his mischievous grin after Garfield fell down suggests that it was a prank. Another example was Odie locking Garfield and Jon out of a car, just before a downpour hit. His most cunning trick by far was when, after Garfield used the "Schlocko Laundro-Mutt" to torment him, he sneaked the collar around Garfield's neck before giving him a messy chili dog, thus setting the Laundro-Mutt on the cat; later on, both Garfield and Odie got their revenge by slipping the collar on Jon and throwing mud at him so the Laundro-Mutt would perform one last wash.

In the comic of August 26, 2007, Garfield describes Odie's species as "purebred clown" after trying to find out what kind of dog Odie is with the help of a book. Odie is often kicked or pushed off the table by Garfield or the victim of some practical joke. Odie usually has a long, stretchy tongue and slobbers in his appearances. Recently, as of 2000, he is seen walking on two feet, instead of all fours, just like Garfield, though this was demonstrated in earlier strips as well.

In the live-action films, Odie is played by dachshunds Tyler and Chloe.

## Trivia

* Odie was going to be named Spot until Jim Davis found out this name was being used for another character. This was shown in the original Jon comics and referenced in the August 15th 1978 strip, when Lyman swats Odie for what he "did on the floor". Garfield looks on in amusement and says "They should have named him Spot".
* In his earliest appearances, Odie had black ears. They were recolored to brown on September 27, 1979, supposedly to avoid confusion with Snoopy from Peanuts.
* In animated media, Odie's appearance is usually announced by the sound of the cavalry's bugling.
* Despite being established as a primary character, Odie has been absent for as long as months in the comic strip. Jim Davis admitted in 30 Years of Laughs and Lasagna that Odie is very hard to write for because Odie has no dialogue and has less personality compared to Garfield or Jon.
* He once had dialogue on June 15, 1980.
* Odie is the only character to have had the same voice actor in animated form since 1982.
* Odie has 1705 appearances in the comics as of the 31st of December 2016, the 3rd most.
* From 1978 to late 1981, Odie had three toes on each paw, which was soon revised to two toes. Some strips show him with four toes.