The vet came at 10 in the morning to put Cody down. I hoped that Cody wouldn't remember the same vet had come to put Griffey to sleep just a few years ago.

Cody was a macho dog by boder collie stands. He was handsome/ mostly black with a white nose and black freckles on one side. One ear stood up and the other flopped over.

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He was a dog with a one track mind. He was into balls. Period. He could chase the ball or stick for an infinite amount of time. You could never throw the ball so many times he would stop retrieving, and asking for more. Even camping at Hume Lake, after he went mountain biking with us, he came back to camp and wanted to play ball.

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Cody was never one to back down from a fight. Never started one either. That is if you don't count picking fights with excited, six month old lab puppies. He had to kick their collective little asses so many times, he just went ahead and beat them up in advance of them jumping on him.

He hated puppies. We owe Cody an apologize for bringing Leo, the puppy, into his life. This was his final service to the family. He trained Leo to behave. Not sure if Cody truly hated Leo, or if he liked Leo but Leo just couldn't get it through his head to leave Cody alone. Cody did not want to play. Ever. Leo started every morning excited to get out of his crate and play with Cody. This ended with Cody pinning Leo after a brief, terrifying fight- every morning. Cody was not into playing with other dogs. Period. Leo never could get that through his head. The day before the vet came, we gave Cody a Leo free day. We took Leo to Dioji at 7 am and Cody didn't see him again until crate time.

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Cody had a strong and enduring love of our neighbors Mac, Judy, and their dog Bandit. For some reason he just loved this family and they loved him. Any chance he could, he would run down to their house and scratch on their front door until they let him in. He would run around their house, check things out and then leave. He would leave something in their front yard, frequently a pile of shit, but it might also be a ball or a stick. Judy thought this was leaving them a gift, the only way he knew how. When Bandit died, Cody knocked on the front door and instead of running around their house like he usually did, he came in, walked over to Mac, put his head on Mac's lap, and just sat their to greave with Mac. After Mac died, and Judy moved out, he never went back to that house.

In the end, I think Cody did remember the vet taking Griffey away. Cody was nervous when he saw the vet. He came when I called. I tried to reassure him of our love and appreciation for all he had done for our family, returning all those balls was no easy task on his part. After the sedation, I sat with him on the floor in the corner of the family room couch where he usually laid. I held his head in my hand until I felt him go completely limp.

Cody was a smart dog. That morning at 10 he knew. I couldn't tell Cody we were leaving in a week for three months. That this was better than slow death by cancer. He didn't know he had lymphoma. He didn't know the house-sitter was bringing another dog into his territory to annoy him. But he knew we loved him and I hope that was enough in the end.