For Cody

Cody Steven Smartassbian: Jan 5, 1996 - May 14, 2010

Cody was an adorable pup who stole my heart, and after an hour or so of begging and pleading, came to live with me and his other, more reluctant at first, mother. Cody was smart and was house-trained in record time, but his puppy-hood was not without the occasional snag. There was the sofa he ate, and the fact that he liked to eat his own poo. We heard that if we sprinkled cayenne pepper on his poo, it would break him of the habit, however it only succeeded in developing his taste for spicy food.

Cody was an adventurer, going on countless hikes, rock climbing jaunts, cross country skiing, and camping trips. He even went down the rapids in a two-man kayak. He kayaked the waters of Lake Tahoe and traversed many trails in the Tahoe National Forest among other places. He lived on both coasts. He had an amazing sense of direction and smell, and could always take you back to the starting point or the car, no matter how lost you thought you were.

When visiting the various dog parks in the LA area as a young dog, Cody felt compelled to visit every person at the park. He loved people. He was only interested in playing with the dogs that could surely kill him in an instant! He would get in the car with any stranger, and was lucky enough to be petted by Melissa Etheridge.

When I got upset about something, or lost my temper, making most everyone and everything around me, want to get away, Cody always came to me...wondering what was wrong. This had the strangest calming effect on me, that no person could have ever had.

Cody was a clean dog, choosing to walk around mud, not through it. He loved cheese and cheese popcorn. He loved to chase bunnies, and actually caught one once, much to my dismay. He never bit anyone, or got into a fight with another animal. He could, and would, remove the squeaker from a new toy with surgical precision with the first 5 minutes of ownership. He was well behaved, and once trained, no longer needed to be kept on a leash. He loved to have his back end just above his tail scratched, and would let you pet his head, only to reposition himself under you hand, until you were scratching his butt.

Full grown he weighed 34 pounds. People often said he looked like a Dingo. The kind that ate your baby. Cody was a wonderful companion, and an easy dog to care for and love. He developed a tumor in March which grew from the size of a marble to the size of large grapefruit in about 8 weeks. This eventually grew to impede his ability to chew and was encroaching on his ability to breathe. Today, his other mother and I took him to the vet and held him as we watched his life end with a minimum of discomfort to him.

Cody will be missed.