The other day I got a phone call from my Mom. It was an ordinary phone call ("Hi Hadley, do you have a job yet? Have you made any friends? When are you going to have children?") when my Mom just blurted out "So, we had to put Cody down today."
Cody is (was) my dog... Wait. I can't really handle the past tense so please forgive me if I slip into the present tense from time to time.
Cody is a German Shepherd. We got her when I was 14 after 2 men with knives tried to break into our house while I was home alone with my little brother. He was 4 at the time.
Cody was born on July 4. We got her as a puppy and she saved my life at least 2 times after that. (For some reason, people like to try to break into where ever I'm living while I'm at home.) Cody was from a long line of police dogs although she didn't have any police training herself. Still, she was incredibly smart. In fact, sometimes I felt bad for her because she would get bored so easily.
She liked to play fetch just like every dog. Her favorite thing to do was to find toys I'd hidden. I'd put my arms up in a shrug and say, "Where's the toy?" She'd look at me and then race off to find it. If she got stuck I'd give her a little social referencing by pointing to the direction and she go there to find it. We'd usually play this outdoors.
When we couldn't go outside we'd play "soccer" in the house. She had a cushy "soccer ball" that she liked to kick around with her paws. It was more like "keep away" than soccer. I'm not sure she could count.
She also really liked Twizzlers. She wasn't really that into food but the second she saw Twizzlers her eyes would get huge and she'd cry from them. She knew that she wasn't allowed to take human food unless "invited" but Twizzlers were another story. One time I was watching a movie and I had a bag of Twizzlers on the coffee table. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her crouching and slowly moving toward the table (stalking). She crept up to the table, pursed her lips, and veeerry slowly slid just one Twizzler out of the bag and slinked away!
She also had a thing for eating my clothing. I bought a sweater on a vacation to Austin. When I took the sweater out of the bag (which was on the floor for a few days) half of it was gone. I think the indigestion she had was punishment enough!
When I moved the New York City I couldn't take her with me so she moved to upstate New York to live on a farm with a family friend. I missed her but keeping her in an apartment would have been cruel. She also really liked her new caregiver and I got to see her occassionally.
The last time I saw her it was clear that she was in pain. She couldn't walk very well, was gray, and was missing many teeth. I think the clear loss of spirit was the worst part. She still had some of her old self but I could see in her eyes that she wanted peace. When I left I said goodbye to her, told her that I loved her. It was strange knowing that it would be the last time.
She was 13 years old. I don't doubt that she had a good life and that it was the best thing. It's kind of a relief in some ways. It was hard to see her like that. Is that selfish of me?
I hope there are Twizzlers where ever she is...
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2 comments:
I am so sorry to hear about your puppy. It is devastating to lose a beloved pet. We had to put our Golden Retriever - Corky to sleep at 14 because he had cancer. He kept having strokes - it was just horrible. Sometimes it's better to let a pet go gently by opting for euthanasia instead of keeping him/her around because you don't want to be without your pet. We also got our Corky because someone did actually break into our house when we were home. I always felt safe with Corky even though he was more apt to lick you than bite. I miss him so much and its been over 10 years. And I know that wherever your friend is there are Twizzlers.
Hadley, I'm so sorry to read about loosing Cody. Our pets give us such unconditional love that it is hard to give them up. But it was the right thing to do and you'll have many wonderful memories of her. She sounds like a great dog and I laughed about some of her antics. She must have brought so much joy into your life. The loss will get easier to bear but I know you'll always miss her.
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