I know this question probably gets asked all the time but if I haven't played any of these games since I was a child does it matter which one I buy? I know the trilogy is only on rockstar and the definitive is on steam. Is the Definitive really that bad?
It's been a while since my last post. Thought I'd just share that Archer is doing as good as he always does!
Growing up we got a Border Collie in 2006. We found a breeder who had a lot of land and seemed to love their dogs like a good breeder should. The litter of pups had just turned old enough to be broken from their mother and we had first pick. Actually I had first pick seeing as my parents put me with the puppies and told me to come back with one.
So I entered the little pen they put them in and at first only one walked up to me. He was the runt of the litter. I picked him up and held him for a little bit and when I put him down he walked away seemingly upset. I went to see the others but none of them looked at me the way he did so I turned around grabbed him and walked out of the pen and didn't look back. Because of him walking up to me first we've always said he picked me rather than me picking him. That would turn out to be exactly what happened but we wouldn't realize it until he was fully trained. On the way home I named him Odie.
My mother told my stepfather that if we were going to get a dog she "wouldn't have another dumbass in this house" so he picked the smartest breed he could. We got professional training from a police dog trainer he knew. My stepdad trained Odie so well that he knew the area of the yard he was allowed to use the bathroom. He was so well trained that he wouldn't use the bathroom without his "do your business" command to pee and "finish" to poop.
Odie picking me would reveal when the family realized he spent most of the day and night with me. I would do all his walks and most of his fetch in the yard. Stepdad did all the training but he still attached to me. At night he would lay on my bed until I fell asleep and would come back if I woke up. At night I would have my stuffed animal, him, and my imaginary friend and have "meetings" where I would pretend we all were talking about our day. (I was 8 years old don't judge me!) Every day he would sit by the large tree in our yard around 2 or 3 when my parents would let him outside to meet me at the bus stop.
4 years later we got Bella. A 3 month old St Bernard who as a puppy was the same size as Odie. Odie took to her immediately and they became best friends. Odie would teach her to be near me like he did. She would even get on the bed with us at night sometimes and join the "meetings"
One day about a year after that me and Mom moved because her and my stepdad were separating. We moved into a smaller house with just us (siblings had both moved out at this point) and Odie came with us to the new house and Bella stayed with stepdad. I was still able to go visit and take Odie so we didn't lose Bella entirely.
Not long after movie I would celebrate my 13th birthday. Me and Odie went for a walk and came home so me and family could go to dinner. While at dinner Odie managed to run off. He did this from time to time. I don't remember how he did it this time. We looked for him for a while but ultimately had to go to bed since it was late and I had school the next day.
Sadly in the middle of the night my mother got a call from my stepdad. Odie had been hit by a car. She woke me up and got my brother and his friend and we went looking for him on the side of the highway. My sister and her fiance at the time joined not long after and clearly everyone was upset. We eventually found the little guy only to discover his head wrapped in 2 grocery bags (still attached) so clearly he wasn't hit by a car.
Obviously I didn't go to school the next day. Police were called and they looked into it. Ultimately they never figured out who did it. A random person had stopped when they saw him on the side of the road and called my stepdad and then continued on. I don't remember what the police said about them but they felt it couldn't have been them. They then asked me what I wanted to do with my dog. They said they could find cause of death with an autopsy if I wished but we wouldn't get him back after to bury or cremate. I decided I wanted it all to be over and had him cremated.
Odie was the best dog I've ever had. I miss him and think about him every day even 15 years later. I now have Archer. A German Shepherd who is very smart. A dog who seems to know it's his job to lay with me at night until I fall asleep and wait at the fence line for when I get home from work. A dog who seemingly does everything Odie did with an uncanny similarity. A dog who comes when I accidentally call him Odie.
If you've made it this far thank you. I wanted to share Odie's story with people for some time now and never thought about looking for a subreddit. It came up as a recommendation from the German Shepherd subreddit. I would love to hear stories about your Border Collies in the comments as well. They are such wonderful dogs and I would love another in the future.