Beloved Cody
It was love at first sight.
The moment I laid eyes on my 4 week old little furball, and the moment he first laid teeth on my shoes, we bonded immediately. After years of unsuccessful begging and pleading with my parents, the moment I'd dreamt of for so long had finally arrived. My parents were giving in to my desire for a puppy. It was April 1997, and there was a litter of beautiful brown and white fur. I knew I wanted Cody because he was spunkier than the other puppies and seemed very fond of me. I didn't want an Australian Shepherd, but my mother wanted us to have a family dog. She knew once I saw the puppies, I'd turn into a ball of mush. Waiting until he was old enough for us to bring home was the longest wait of my life. We drove out to pick him up, and my life was about to change. I didn't know he would be my best friend. I had no clue at 13 years old, how much someone/something could need me and love me. We did everything together. He was born into a Frisbee catching family, so he was a natural. I loved to show him off and all his tricks he could do. I took him to dog training and he was so easily distracted by the other dogs that I got worried we would never be able to train him. But he learned. Cody was the smartest dog I ever met. Not the most well behaved dog, but the coolest, sweetest, and smartest.
He turned non-dog people into sudden dog lovers. He turned my sad days into happy days. He was jealous of anything I put my attention on besides him.

I remember when he chewed our couch, and the big mess of foam I came home to. I remember all the times he ate garbage. Ha ha. What I wouldn't give right now to come home to a house full of chewed up garbage, because that would mean Cody was still here. Despite the fact that he first greeted me by chewing my shoes, he never became a shoe eater (thank goodness, or we would have had some issues!) He loved chasing squirrels and barking at other dogs as they walked by. He loved laying at the edge of the kitchen smelling chicken cooking. He was trained to not beg at the dinner table, so he wasn't allowed in the kitchen during cooking or eating time. He obeyed, but he would lay his little white paws on the edge of the kitchen floor just barely there waiting for someone to kindly drop some scraps into his bowl. We later learned Cody was allergic to beef, so we couldn't give him the beef bones he so loved early on in his life. He loved rawhides, but pig ears the most. I miss that crunching sound and the satisfied look on his face.
He loved to go rollerblading with me and running no matter how late at night it was, Cody was always up for a walk! He loved relaxing at home, rolling around in the grass after a fresh bath. He was so smart. I felt so proud that he knew so many words. Dogs are a lot smarter than some people think. I'd ask him, "Wanna go for a walk?!" and he would start whining and jumping around and running in circles. He didn't have a tail, so his excitement came in the form of his wiggling, happy butt moving around! We would start off rollerblading and he'd pull so hard and run so fast. As he got older, I knew I had to pace him since he had no concept of pacing himself! I used to get worn out before him, but at about 9 years old, he started wearing out sooner than me, so I stuck to jogging. He knew a lot of words. The word chicken would get his ears perked. Sometimes, we wouldn't be talking to him, just talking amongst ourselves and mention the word chicken, and here would come Cody jingling up to us. He knew the word Squirrel. He'd never catch them though. He did catch a possum once and got a little freaked out. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if he ever caught a squirrel. In almost 12 years of life, the poor dog never got to catch one. I think his bark was bigger than his bite. At 50lbs he was a brave little doggie! I remember bein a kid, and taking him for a walk and coming up to a friends Rottweiler, whom he bravely attacked. This dog was at least 100 lbs bigger than he was, but he wasn't gonna let that stop him! Luckily we pulled him away before he got hurt physically or damaged his ego. I had a ferret that Cody would never even hurt. They actually played together sometimes.
I feel like Cody lived many lives. Maybe he had some cat in him? He got hit by a car twice. Both times he was chasing a squirrel. I remember the one time he got hit, and lay in the middle of the street, I thought we lost him. I screamed and cried, and went to pick him up and brought him in the house. He cried for a couple minutes, and then limped around for a bit. Before we could get him ready to take him to the vet, he ran out the back door, probably to chase another squirrel. He was so brave. The second time he got hit a couple years later, he had a little patch of hair missing on his foot from being scraped and didn't even cry or stop moving. I'm glad he didn't go out like that. God had better plans for him. He had a lot of years left after those two incidents. But we definitely never trusted that he wouldn't run off if we kept him off leash. He was always careful of the street after that. I think he even knew he may not be so lucky the next time.
Speaking of cat, I think he did think he was a cat once, when he tried to climb a tree. Cody must have been chasing a squirrel, when we were hangin out in the house, and heard a loud yelping coming from the back yard. This wasn't a one little yelp, this was a non-stop cry for help. We go outside to see what animal bit him, and find Cody dangling from a tree. His one paw had gotten stuck in the V part of the trunk of dad's apple tree. We got him unstuck, and started cracking up hysterically. I had never seen a dog dangle from a tree, and since he was okay, I had to laugh. Oh Cody, dogs don't climb trees.
He ran away twice too. Once we found him sniffing trees two houses down. There's nothing like the feeling of going into the backyard cuz your dog won't come when you call him, and realizing the gate is open. The second time he ran away, the neighbor brought him back on a leash. Turns out he had gone five houses down, and let himself into the neighbor down the block's backyard to play with their female Australian Shepherd. Naughty Cody! ;)
One more run-in with the friendly wildlife Cody had was being skunked. He made it almost 10 years without being skunked, but he got to experience it. Luckily I was out of town, so I didn't have to smell it, but my parents had to tell me about it. 
Cody hated very few things in life. He hated mailmen (bit two) and fireworks. Poor dog would shake uncontrollably at all noise of the fireworks. We spent quite a few fourth of July's holding our doggie. He never did learn to appreciate them. He hated costumes. We tried dressing him up a few times for Halloween, but the sad look on his face, he looked like a dog on death row, so we eventually stopped torturing him. I always wished he'd let me accessorize him, but sweaters and booties weren't his style. Christmas and birthdays were his favorite. He loved to open presents. Sometimes, I'd wrap cookies in wrapping paper individually just to watch him open more presents because he loved them so much. He was like a kid on Christmas. Santa was always good to him, no matter how much trouble he got into that year. ;)
He never had a girlfriend, the poor thing. He had a Rottweiler lady friend who he flirted with as a puppy. But, he did have a best friend growing up. My best friend got a Pittbull/boxer mix right around the time we got Cody, so we would have doggie dates and walk with them, and bring them over and let them play in the back yard. Cody was way too overprotective, so he never really got too comfortable around other dogs. He was pretty jealous, but they loved each other nonetheless.

He spent a lot of nights comforting me in return. Any time I was lonely or sad, or cold, or sick, there was Cody at my side. He loved sleeping in my bed. He wasn't allowed on any furniture, but he was smart. My dad knew he couldn't stop me from having Cody in my bed, but the dog knew he wasn't allowed on couches or anyone else's bed. A few times as he got older, I caught him climbing down from a couch as I walked in the door and would give him the "you know better eye". And that he did, he knew better.
He didn't even need to be scolded, just a tone of voice and a look from me, he knew exactly the "im sorry" eyes to give me. He had that look mastered. 11 years of solid practice of garbage eating, he definitely had the best guilty face I've ever seen in my life. I would make him watch me clean up the garbage and talk to him, asking him why he does this when he knows he's gonna spend time alone in his room after. Must be something good about eatin garbage, if he's willing to withstand the punishment every time. I cant see the appeal in coffee beans and dirty paper towels. I always wondered how he got the tall garbage can pulled up out of the cage, took the bag off and spread it so far out all over the house. Skillls...
I cant think of what I miss most about Cody. He was such a beautiful, loving, carefree spirit. It was like having a human around, he was so smart and so funny and personable. I miss the way he would cock his head sideways and bite his lip with a little bit of tongue hangin out over his crooked bottom teeth. LOVE that face! I miss the non-stop kisses he gave. I miss the energy he had. I miss the way the fresh snow excited him so much. I miss watching him dream that he was chasing squirrels. Aussies aren't howlers, but he did occasionally howl in his sleep. I'd cover my mouth as I'd be laughing at him jus t so I wouldn't disturb his sleep. I loved letting him out after the first snowfall for him to run around and before he got all fours out the door, he got a mouthful of the white flaky stuff. Then having him come in the house and pick out the snow chunks out of his paws. This is embarrassing for poor Cody, sorry buddy, but I gotta tell people. He used to eat the snow chunks off the floor that I just got done picking out of his paws. Eew. ;) This year, the snow will look different being all white in our backyard. I miss yellow snow. This will be our first winter without our sweet furry friend. He did so many tricks. Anytime someone met him for the first time, I would show them his tricks. Sit up, roll over, bark on command. He loved the attention, the little Airies. ;) He knew how to move backwards when I told him "go back" so I could throw him a ball. He could balance a cookie on his nose, and stay until I told him "okay" then he'd open his mouth and catch it. (most of the time, he caught it, from the nose to the mouth).He knew how to give hi-five, how to give "paw", how to give "other paw" and how to give paw in Spanish. Yep, Cody was bi-lingual. I miss playing chase-me with him. We played hide & seek and I'd sneak up on him behind doors and walls, and he would always find me and make me chase him. I miss his freckles, his whiskers, his hair all over my clothes, his muddy paws, giving him baths. Everything. I miss you all the time my beautiful Cody.
Cody got sick in February of 2009. He was going to be 12 that March, but he didn't make it. He stopped being spunky. Spent more time napping. We found him in places he never slept, he didn't eat as much, didn't get excited at Chicken. Walks were short, because of his arthritis. He started losing control of his bladder/bowels in the house, but we knew he felt bad, so it would make me sad instead of angry. He stopped sleeping in my room, but would cry outside my door if I shut it. He didn't look happy as much. We knew he was getting old, but in mid-February he started shaking, stopped eating. He didn't even eat pig ears or chicken. He drank more water than I ever saw him drink in his life. I knew something was wrong. We took him to the vet, knowing we would have to eventually soon make a one-way trip. They did blood work and told us he had kidney failure, really bad arthritis, progressive liver disease, and basically too many things to possibly fix. That last week of his life, we gave him so much love, gave him canned organic pot pie ( a doggie luxury), I stayed home and lay with him on the floor, and got really mad that he was going to be leaving me. I didn't want him to be in pain, but he was. I always expected him to slowly age, and die in his sleep. I hated having to make the decision to put him down. But we knew that he was in too much pain, and this was not okay with us. The hardest thing I've ever had to do in 24 years of life was say goodbye to my best friend who's main goal in life was to love us. This was truly like losing a child, a brother, and a best friend all in one. Almost a year has gone by and the pain is still fresh when I think about him. I know he's better not suffering, and he's in a happy place, and had a very happy time on this earth, and affected so many people positively, but I still hurt.
I remember as a kid, before I had a dog, I read the book called I'll Always Love You, so I always told him I loved him. He knew. He was my bff. Everyone who met Cody loved him. And he loved so many people.
He was the best friend I could ever have. If I ever have another dog, it wont be another Cody. I miss you my sweet Cody. sorry Cody for not taking you too see more of the world, and I'm sorry for any time you didn't feel like I gave you all I could give you. Thank you Cody for all the wonderful memories we've had. My life is greater because you were in it. I forever love you.