Codie's Story

CODIE'S STORY

Well...when I told you about Mirage...I also told you that Codie was another story...and to tell you about Codie...I need to tell you about Snowball.

Now remember Snowball?? He was the stray that made us fall in love with the American Eskimo Breed of dog. My husband and I used to live on the 2nd floor of an old 1920's summer home. The lots in the neighbor hood we lived in were given away by the local paper in the early 1900's with a subscription. 20' x 50' lots. There were three old summer homes that were built by the newspapers owners on about a 7 acre parcel of land along the Fox River. These old summer homes were turned into apartments, I'm guessing around the 70's. Our building had 4 apartments, each with it's own outside entrance. We lived on the 2nd floor and had a nice little deck that we used to sit out on in the summer time.

Well...one lovely summer evening we were sitting out on the porch talking when we saw this white streak run across the lawn. We called out to it and it came flying up the stairs, took a flying leap, and landed smack dab in the middle of my husband's lap. I don't think his face has ever been so clean. When we got the streak to settle down, we noticed his collar with a small engraved brass plate that said Snowball. We asked him if his name was Snowball and he got all excited and started wagging his tail. I swear he was smiling at us. He also had tags that said his owners lived in Virginia. Now we were in Illinois. We thought his parents might have been on vacation and he ran away. So we called the number and the folks answered. We asked them if they were missing their dog and they said they didn't have one. We explained that we were in Illinois and there was a dog with their information on his collar. They were quite shocked. You see they had given Snowball to their daughter a few months before. It turns out they lived two houses behind us. We drove Snowball home and boy were his parents glad to see him.

We started asking them all kinds of questions about Snowball and what kind of dog he was. They told us he was an American Eskimo Dog. We had never heard of this breed before and were quite smitten with Snowball. Especially my husband. He went home and started doing all kinds of research about the breed. Well I knew what was coming. My husband and I had been rescuing animals, one at a time, since we met and each of us had rescued animals before we met also. So of course...we wanted to rescue an American Eskimo Dog. Most people we called had never heard of them. Well one day I was reading the paper and I saw an ad for a 2 year old male for sale. I didn't say a word about it to my husband. I called the number and they said they had to get rid of him because he was not getting along with their infant. I made an appointment to go and meet him.

Well...I got lost. I wound up getting their a half an hour late and saw the folks putting the dog in their car. I explained who I was and they said they didn't think I was coming and were getting ready to take the dog to the pound. They told me his name was Codie and proceeded to take him back into their yard. I went in to meet him and he was just a sweetheart. Such a petite, dainty, and handsome young man. I went in to talk to his folks and met their "infant" who was actually a 2 year old toddler. Turns out he would hang on to Codie and pull his tails and his ears. Codie had finally had enough and barked at him. He didn't snap or bite or anything...just barked. He also got hair all over their clothes and furniture and was just hyper and out of control so they were keeping him in the back yard. They decided they didn't have time for him anymore and decided two days ago to get rid of him. Well after meeting him...I didn't believe a word of it. I paid them their money and took Codie home.

Of course he was a bit nervous and paced at the end of his leash when I got him home. My husband was not to happy with me either. He thought Codie was going to be too hyper. I said just give him some time to settle in. You know he has just been uprooted from the only home he's known and they were not very nice to him. The next day I came home from work and found my husband lying on the couch with Codie lying on top of him. They have been inseparable ever since. That was about 17 years ago.

Codie is still with us. He had a stroke last year on Father's Day, but pulled through. It is really hard to watch him as he grows more weak and fragile every day. I know my husband will be so upset when he goes. Codie has been such a joy and pleasure to have in our lives. He is and always has been the most well behaved dog I have ever seen. He didn't need any obedience training...just someone to understand him and love him. He has given us such happiness and we love him dearly.