Just to let you know Cody Buddy you may be gone but you will never ever be forgotten….Ever We love you sooooo much….We went out and bought Cody’s mom…she was a beautiful German Shepherd too. She was a remarkable dog, anyways Cody was from her first litter, all his brothers and sisters went to their forever homes. Cody was a little smaller then the rest so everybody looked past him. So we decided we would keep him. He was pretty much still a youngin when his mother had another litter of pups; they were just 5 days old when she got hit in our laneway. She was very protective of her pups and us her human family, so when a strange truck came in she darted out and she was taken from us. Poor little Cody he went and layed on his mother not knowing what happened or maybe he did, he was sooo smart. Anyways I had to hand raise the 5 pups which meant I didn’t have a lot of free time to spend with Cody. It just seemed like a lot of his mother Reba went into him.
When he was 3 and a half years old, he made a best friend with the neighbor’s black lab. They did everything together. We live on a farm so we have bush area all behind us where we go to cut our wood, Cody always came with us. Cody and Mike the black lab would always go to the bush that was their daily routine. Anyways to make a very long story short, deer hunters thought they would fire off a few rounds; they said they weren’t using the dogs as target practice but we know better; we live in a small town where news travels quite fast. The hunter that killed Mike the lab and shot Cody three times, he has to live with this the rest of his life, not once did he ever come to us and say he was so sorry or for that matter go to the neighbors to say sorry for killing their dog.
We have 4 children who Cody was growing up with, when this happened it was so sad around here. Cody made it back home but he was a real mess. We rushed him to the vet in town but he didn’t think he stood much of a chance. So we called our big animal vet, we raise cattle, he told us to get hold of a animal hospital in London, Ontario; we did and they said to get him there as fast as possible. It was over an hours drive away but we took him praying all the way for him to hold on. We got there they came out with the gourney and took him in.
The vet there was so remarkable he told us right away he could save him. That was a very long wait for us for him to fix up Cody; the one shot had blown away half of his shoulder; the vet said he would probably never be able to hold his head up again the damage was so extensive. The vet said he had the will to live and so a few days later Cody came home with us. He had drainage tubes everywhere but not once did he give up; he even whined when he had to go to the bathroom; he never ever made a mistake in the house.
Anyways again to make a long story short, he surprised everybody, a few months later he was walking around with his head held high, unbelievable the vet said, that was twelve years ago. He grew up to be a big old boy; then a old boy, his eyesight was starting to go, his hearing was gone but he still did his job right up to the end.
When he lost mobility in his back end we knew the time had come when we would have to say goodbye to our dear Cody; it broke our hearts to have to make that decision but it was the only right thing to do. We stayed with him til the very end and we cried for days, but in our hearts we knew we did the right thing for our buddy. He got to go with his dignity; it has been 7 long days since that day and I wish I could say it is getting easier but it is not. We still cry alot of tears; he is so missed by the whole family. He was there when the kids grew up til they left home; then saw grandchildren come into our lives. He was a heroic dog; he guarded us for almost 16 years and with what he endured in his lifetime. He was just an all out remarkable dog. He may be gone but he will never be FORGOTTEN…
With Love Cody
| Cody |
| Dan and Bonnie Neaves |