Goodbye Cody

He was born in Central Illinois, we got him from a friend of my mother-in-law. Our new dog Cody caught a flight home with us to Virginia in 1988.

As a puppy, he once accidentally ripped my nose open, sending me to the emergency room and putting himself under quarantine by animal control officers. We were playing on the floor, Cody fighting me over an old rag (ok, an old pair of underwear), and he accidentally caught my nose with a sharp puppy tooth. We yanked different directions, he yelped, and my nose started spewing blood. So we missed the end of Michael Dukakis’ acceptance speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, and headed to the hospital. Maybe it was a bad omen for that Election, but our fun didn’t always end in the hospital.Cody did tricks too. He could shake hands/paws, roll over, stand on his hind legs, or patiently resist the temptation of snatching a dog bone placed right in front of him until given the secret go-ahead code word, “OK”. He understood English, and was fluent in begging for food.

He was our first child, and in many of our oldest photos of him Cody is happily perched on someone’s lap. But soon we had a human baby, and then another, and another. And Cody was a protective big brother to each of them, and a happy floor cleaner beneath their high-chairs.

Outdoors, he had an interesting habit of only snarling at dogs that were many times his size. Perhaps he knew he could outrun them, or maybe if we’d have ever let him try, he really could have kicked their butts. We never had him fixed, though we know we should have, maybe his bravado was in his balls. He knocked up an understanding neighbor’s ugly pug twice, so there are some Cody progeny out there somewhere.

As kids got older, he got a bit slower, but he was still always the first to meet me at the door when returning from work. He hated fleas, but they loved him. And what he lost in sight and hearing ability, he gained in his ability to create new smells.

He saw other pets come and go; lizards, hamsters, a hermit crab. And this year he enjoyed the company of the four kittens one of our cats had. Our two adult cats basically ignored him, but the kittens loved Cody, and he followed them around with a curiosity he hadn’t had in anything for years.

For months we’ve seen signs of his age, especially in his hesitation and difficulty in climbing steps, but he always soldiered on. Until last week, when we found him no longer able to stand up. A vet visit offered small hope for improvement, and when there was none we were left to face the fact that Cody’s time had come. He was an important member of our family for 16 years..

Goodbye Cody, we miss you already.