Cody came to us three months ago, a four year old stray who was losing his vision but otherwise appeared to be healthy. He arrived here scared and confused, always searching for a way to escape but blossomed into a quiet, sweet, loving dog after a few weeks in a stable home. He had rediscovered how to play, both with other dogs and with toys, and was enjoying his new life as a beloved family member. We discovered that we had an incredibly bright, energetic, personable dog on our hands--one who loved other dogs, cats, people, and who just wanted to hang out with his "pack". Cody was the kind of dog we are all looking for when we think about another furry family member.

In early September, Cody suddenly got sick, and everything seemed to go downhill for him from there. He was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia that had been caused by a mega esophagus and spent three days in the hospital. We brought Cody home and nursed him through his recovery period, and were thrilled when his follow up chest x-rays showed a normal esophagus and clear lungs. He was back to his normal self for a few precious weeks, playing and romping with the dogs, chewing on his Nylabone, throwing squeaky toys up in the air and "finding" them again with his feet. Cody got pretty good at listening to his “seeing-eye person” when we would go out in the yard so he didn’t plow headlong into things. Cody always went headfirst into everything he did, and he still ran into things, but he learned that “easy” meant he needed to slow down. We thought we were through with his health issues and looked forward to finding Cody the perfect home.

But Cody continued to have health issues that we couldn't resolve. He stopped eating regularly about three weeks ago, and nothing we offered him seemed to work to get him to want to eat. We tried many different kinds of dog food, both canned and dry to no avail. We tried boiled chicken, steak, baby food, deli meats, braunschweiger, doggie junk food, dog treats, everything, and he just wouldn't eat for us. We could sometimes get him to eat a little bread, sometimes vanilla yogurt and cheddar cheese, but more days than not he just turned up his nose at everything. We ran blood tests and x-rays, and couldn't find anything wrong with him. His vets were absolutely stumped, so we tried an appetite stimulant with no success.

Early last week, we started to see some behavior changes with our sweet boy. He started to stagger and stumble around like he was drugged, and he would pace back and forth uncontrollably for hours. Nothing we did to settle him down or comfort him worked. He was forgetting his housebreaking, urinating and defecating in the house, something he had never done before. He would wake us up every few hours to go outside, and when we would take him out he would just want to lay in the yard or stand like a statue in the middle of the yard. This was just not our Cody, this was not the dog that we knew and loved.

We took Cody to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Hospital for a consultation, to see if they could help us find out what was so wrong with our sweet boy. Our worst fears were realized when they told us they believed that Cody had a brain tumor. There was absolutely nothing that we could do to help him, and this tumor was likely the cause of not only his recent symptoms but also possibly the seizures he had. His condition would continue to deteriorate and we could do nothing to help him, his life would be a roller coaster of degrees of bad days until we lost him. We had a long talk with Cody's vet and realized that it wasn't fair to Cody to have him continue to suffer. So we took Cody for a nice walk with his pack, with him leading the way as usual, the blind dog leading the pack. He napped in the sun in the backyard and worked up enough energy for a couple of short wrestling sessions with his beloved Sassy, who he adored. We took him into the vet where he curled up on his favorite blanket, the one his Aunt Regina made for him, and with us whispering in his ear and stroking his head, we helped him cross the Rainbow Bridge. We know that he went with love and he didn't suffer, and those are the best gifts that we could give him.

Cody taught us so many things and we are so grateful that we had the chance to love this incredible boy. Even though he was essentially blind, it didn't slow him down. He wasn't the kind of dog to just lay down and not enjoy life. He could hear Wyatt and Sassy playing, and he would run to the sound with his mouth open, biting whatever he happened to bump into first, grabbing hold and wrestling. He would run in the yard, chasing Wyatt with his ears flying. He picked up sticks that he found and chewed on them to his heart's content. Cody was the most curious dog I have ever met, and nothing got in his way when he wanted to "see" something. He would climb on anything, walk across anything, plow through anything--he had absolutely no fear. He was so good natured and sweet that we could feed him in his Bailey Chair without any issues, yet when he wanted to go in different direction on a walk he could be the most stubborn animal you have ever encountered. Every day when we got home from work, he became a whirling dervish, trying to stand on his hind legs and kiss faces that he couldn't see without losing his balance and falling over. He never so much as curled a lip at Wyatt and Sassy even when they snuck up on him and took his toys. He was an amazing animal, and we miss him every single minute. It seems so unfair that he is gone, he deserved so much better than he got in this life.

Cody's foster family would like to thank Wendy L for sponsoring Cody and helping with his vet bills. We are truly sorry that we could never get him healthy enough to bring to an event to meet you, we know you would have fallen as deeply in love with this boy as we did. We also want to thank Uncle Rick and Aunt Pat O, for building Cody's Bailey Chair and for their continued love and support as we tried to help Cody through all of his issues. We like to say that Cody’s Bailey Chair was “A Regina Production, Built Rick O. Tough!” Special thanks as well to Aunt Regina K, who rescued Cody from the shelter where he would likely have been euthanized as unadoptable. If not for you, we would never have had the opportunity to spend these last few months with this incredible animal. Cody was so grateful for everything that was done for him, and I know he is looking down on all of us with love.

Cody, we love you and we will NEVER forget you and all you have taught us. Godspeed, sweet boy.