Our Cody Bear

I'm struggling to write anything and I think I'm in shock.

Cody was called to the puppy park in the sky tonight.

After 2 years of hearing he could go at any time it was much more upsetting than I thought it was going to be.

Cody had a grand life of 14 years and 8 months. The last two years weren't perfect but he was happy and sometimes that's all a puppy wants.

Cody had a jealous streak a mile long and if attention was being paid to anything his size or smaller he had to get in the middle and make sure you knew he was there. When Cody could hear he would nudge in between Bob and I if he heard us kissing (and yes sometimes we made smooching noises just to see him try and separate us). When Rocky was still with us you couldn't pet him or talk to him without Cody going out of his flippin' mind and barking the house down. Heck, he was stone cold deaf for about a year but he somehow always knew if Amber was up on our laps. He would wake up from a snooze, lift his head to see what was going on and drag himself up if either kitty was in the area.

Cody was also vain. Attention hog that he was he had to hear how handsome he was. I didn't even think about it until we met our last vet. She couldn't believe how Cody needed to hear how handsome he was or that he was the center of the universe. (Maybe it's our fault as Emma also needs this kind of re-assurance from time to time)

In the end he was just a great companion. Bob and I talked about how we were going to cope without our sidekick. Since we sleep at opposite ends of the clock there are many times when Cody would be a 'jobsite' puppy for Bob or a shadow to me. Having had two dogs for most of our marriage I didn't realize how wonderful it would be to have only one dog who looked to you for fun.

Rocky and Cody together ran me ragged and I won't have more than one dog at a time again. Whatever Rocky did Cody had to follow suit and they fed off each other's energy. When Rocky passed Bob and I turned our attention to Cody thinking he would be horribly upset and adrift. What we didn't expect was for him to blossom and bask in the glory of being the only dog in the house. We used to think that Cody would fall apart without Rocky as he followed him every where but maybe Cody was really meant to be a one dog show.

Now we have no one to look to so our grief is our only companion.

It's quiet here for the first time in years. Cody had breathing problems most of his life and in the past two years panting, snoring, coughing, hacking, what have you were the normal noises of everyday life. Now it's eerily silent. And sad.

But I'm a believer and it helps to know Cody is now pain free, tumour free, running around and chasing Rocky giving him hell for hiding from him for so long.