Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Cody Baloney, July 1998-Sept. 2013

Had to let Cody go yesterday.  I was hoping he'd leave on his own terms when he was ready much as he lived his life but he stopped eating on Saturday and was barely drinking.  He started having breathing problems, probably a result of being dehydrated but who knows.  His life had turned into sleeping and pacing, sometimes anxious obsessive pacing, and nothing else and he'd gotten so weak.  Sunday night was terrible for him and I couldn't put him through another night of it so I had a vet come by on Monday.  It took me several hours to compose myself enough to even make the phone call.

He had a great life though and lived a couple months past his 15th birthday.  He was an awesome dog, crazy, one of a kind.  He traveled all over the place with use, to dog agility trials and vacations hiking in the mountains.

Flagstaff, Arizona



Sedona, Arizona



Grand Canyon



Sourdough Trail, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Colorado



He loved agility.  His first classes were at the local humane society.  He loved them so much that after a few weeks he refused to leave at the end of class.  The instructor had to carry him to the car for me after one class and I had to borrow a handful of pot roast from a classmate after another class to lure him out.  He was nervous trialing though and had a lot of ring stress issues.  I never knew what he was going to do, sometimes he was fast and brilliant and focused, other times not so much.  Probably his biggest accomplishment was taking 4th place at USDAA Nationals in the Grand Prix Quarter Finals earning his way to Semi-Finals.  It was a blazingly hot day and he never did well in the heat and he had to run in the main arena with a crowd and the weird big wooden jumps and equipment he'd never seen before.  But he held it together and had a nice clean run on a technical, tricky course.




He loved the snow.  He would have sudden crazy hyper fits in the snow at random times while we were walking or hiking.


I could go on for pages, he had such a long and rich life and he taught me so much about dogs and training and myself.  But this is all I can manage for now.

Bye Good Buddy.  I'll miss you always.



5 comments:

  1. Oh, no, Cody! I'm so sorry to hear this. I know how special your dogs are to you; I've seen how well you know all their personalities and how you incorporate them into your life and activities. You sure gave each other excellent lives. And you have so many beautiful photos of him. I need to get busy with mine, so that's my takeaway for today--you never know when time will run out. My deepest sympathy, Elayne, and goodbye, Cody.

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  2. I'm so, so sad to read this. My goes out to you as tears run down my cheeks :-((( Beautiful photos and memories here, and many more that will stay with you forever. Take care in this very sad time.

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  3. I remember seeing Cody a very long time ago, before I knew who you were, and thinking what a cool looking dog he was. I remember in Skye's early days of doing USDAA that we competed against Cody and Lola too I believe.
    I think it's great that he lived past 15 and had such a rich life, though that does make it even harder when they leave us.
    So sorry Elayne. Give Strum and Lola a hug.

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  4. I got goose bumps reading about Cody's wonderful life. Sounds like a great dog.

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  5. Thanks to all ofyou. I remember Cody competing with Skye. Was very fun.

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