Kody was a friend to all who met him
Animal Stories from All-Creatures.org

FROM Bryan Monell
July 2020

Kody was a three-legged therapy dog who went on over 1,000 visits and was a friend to all who met him regardless of species.

Therapy Dog Kody

It is with the heaviest of heart and deepest of sadness I announce that my dear friend Kody has just crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.

Protester Kody

Kody was a friend to all to who met him regardless of species. Kody was a three-legged therapy dog who went on over 1,000 visits. He brought comfort to numerous elderly people in hospices, some who asked to see him one more time right before they passed. He visited countless veterans recovering in hospitals. He had lost his leg to a car hitting him when he was a stray living on the streets of Merced, California, but that never stopped his zest for life, and veterans who had PTSD and those with lost limbs were really drawn to him.

Some said meeting Kody was as helpful to them as any doctor. Kody visited hundreds of suffering children in hospitals bringing joy laughter and hope to them. Children's Hospital of Orange County even made him his own baseball card with his story on the back of the card.

Kody enjoyed going to puppy mill demos and was very effective, in my admittedly biased opinion. He met celebrities like basketball superstar John Salley but was never star struck.

John Salley

He treated everyone equally but had a real soft spot for anyone who was sick, injured or feeling down. He always knew just what to do to make them feel better. Sometimes that meant just sitting there quietly for half an hour on their hospital bed and letting them pet him and talk quietly to him sharing things they didn't feel comfortable telling anyone else. Kody was a great listener.

If one can have a soul mate who is a dog, Kody was mine. We were instant best friends and inseparable every minute of the day on the times I was fortunate to hang with him. We went hiking in the woods, spent many days hanging out at the beach and staying up all night watching old movies. By all indications Kody had a really rough start to life but never gave up hope. After being hit by a car and losing his front leg, a rescue group took him in and sent him to Southern California where my parents adopted him 14 years ago. From there on Kody had a great life and he gave back 100 times over.

Kody was once blessed by a priest at Mission San Juan Capistrano, but the ones who were truly blessed were those who knew Kody.

Blessing Kody

This one is a real gut punch. Some people may scoff at saying a dog can be one of your dearest, best friends but I don't care what anyone says or thinks about who Kody and I are. I cherish every moment with and memory of him. I will always fondly remember the many times I would wake up because Kody was dreaming on the bed and his legs would start running or he would start barking a little in his sleep. I always wondered what he was dreaming of. I could have watched him like that for the rest of time. He looked so happy.

A toast to you Kody. May you run free forever on. Love you buddy. I sure hope to see you again somehow.

*******

Addendum:

My dad just reminded me of a very special ability our dear Kody who passed away on Monday had. Somehow Kody always knew when someone was going to pass away within 48 hours. Whenever Kody was visiting people at a hospice he would spend as much time as they wanted to pet and talk with him. He would lay with them on their bed. But whenever he sensed someone was going to pass away he would only go up for a minute and then gently respectfully refuse to stay even though he may have spent long periods of time with the person on previous visits.

Nobody ever taught him this. It was only through observation of the first two times this happened that my dad realized what was going on. He told the staff at the various hospices where he and Kody went to comfort people.

Over the years Kody was never wrong. Whenever he did that the person died within two days. They never told the person why Kody was acting that way. It was Kody's way of giving the heads up to the hospice staff so they could gather the patient's family and friends to be there at the end. Kody was quite a guy always providing comfort to and looking out for those who were hurting.


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