Odie: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Dog character from the Garfield comic strip}}

{{About|the fictional canine character|people with the first name or nickname|Odie (given name)|the "talking" dog|Zeltim Odie Peterson}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{primary sources|date=June 2017}}

{{Notability|date=November 2023}}

{{Infobox character

| name = Odie

| series = [[Garfield]]

| image = Odie the Dog.svg

| image_size = 150px

| first = January 29, 1976, in ''Jon'' (as Spot)<br/>August 8, 1978, in ''Garfield'' (as Odie)

| last =

| creator = [[Jim Davis (cartoonist)|Jim Davis]]

| voice = [[Gregg Berger]]

| alias =

| species = Dog

| gender = Male

| title =

| family = Lyman (former owner), [[Jon Arbuckle]] (current owner), [[Garfield (character)|Garfield]], Tyrone, Toto, Dotty and Spotty, Shelly, Mama, Pappy, Gavin, Kevin

| spouse =

| significant_other =

| children =

| relatives =

| nationality = American

| lbl22 = Birthday

| data22 = August 8, 1978

}}

'''Odie''' is a fictional [[dog]] who appears in the comic strip ''[[Garfield]]'' by [[Jim Davis (cartoonist)|Jim Davis]]. He has also made appearances in the animated television series ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'' and ''[[The Garfield Show]]'', two [[live-action]]/[[Computer-generated imagery|CGI]] feature films, and three fully [[Computer-generated imagery|CGI]] films.

== Appearances ==

Odie is a yellow-furred, brown-eared dog with a black tail. In the live-action/animated films based on the ''Garfield'' franchise, he is depicted as a wire-haired [[dachshund]]/[[terrier]] mix.<ref>{{cite web|title=Garfield: An Interview with Jim Davis|url=http://www.blackfilm.com/20040611/features/jimdavis.shtml|publisher=BlackFilm.com|access-date=29 March 2015}}</ref> When the character was introduced, his ears were a solid black; this was changed in 1979 to prevent confusion with [[Snoopy]] from the ''[[Peanuts]]'' comic strip.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Garfield on Instagram: "celebrating 45 years of Odie 🐕 #Garfield45" |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CvsBtNTNRHz/ |access-date=2023-08-24 |website=Instagram |language=en}}</ref>

He has a large tongue and slobbers in his appearances. After October 1997, he began walking regularly on two feet, instead of all fours, like Garfield. In the feature film adaptation ''[[Garfield: The Movie]]'', Odie's ability to walk, and more importantly dance on two legs, earns him a lot of attention, and is a major plot point throughout the film. He is seen by Garfield as a "slobbering atrocity" in some of the earlier strips, and then later Garfield feels more sympathetic about Odie.

==History==

The name came from 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.<ref>[http://www.garfield.com/about/character.html Character profile (click on Odie)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102105804/http://garfield.com/about/character.html |date=2007-11-02 }}</ref> When ''Garfield'' was first submitted, Davis called Odie "Spot". He then visited cartoonist [[Mort Walker]] to show him his strips, and Walker told Davis "I had a dog named Spot". When Davis asked "Really?", Walker replied "Yes, in ''[[Boner's Ark]]'', one of my comic strips". Davis changed Spot's name to Odie.

Odie first appeared in the strip on August 8, 1978; the date is considered his birthday. He was originally a pet to [[Jon Arbuckle]]'s friend and roommate, [[List of Garfield characters#Lyman|Lyman]], but Lyman disappeared from the series after about five years with no explanation, after which ownership of Odie transferred to Jon instead. However, there was a four part episode from [[The Garfield Show]] which explained what happened to Lyman and how they found him. {{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Like Garfield, Odie used to be presented as a quadrupedal but now stands mostly bipedal.

Odie once appeared to talk in a certain comic, but it was just Garfield dreaming.

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190902093128/https://garfield.com/ Garfield and Friends official site]

{{Garfield}}

[[Category:Fictional dogs]]

[[Category:Garfield characters]]

[[Category:Comics characters introduced in 1978]]

[[Category:Fictional characters from Indiana]]

[[Category:Fictional mute characters]]

[[Category:Male characters in comics]]