A True Companion

In cases of illness there is nothing better than a little dog to keep you company. The way he curls up by your head, stays close by your side throughout the day. Sleeping when you sleep, entertaining you by tossing used kleenex all over the bed, and then curling up again by your side.
Most people don't even know we have a dog. If they have heard of this so called "dog" I speak of they haven't seen him!
Cody was my first baby and until June has been my one and only son! In December he turned a frisky ten years old.
From the time I brought him home he was slightly quirky. I would go from the bedroom to the bathroom and he would sit in the bedroom and cry until I came back and got him. It was evident quite early on that he wasn't really a fan of strangers. He had some insecurity issues (such as the having to be with me at all times the first month he came to live with us.) I had to take him to "doggie day care" every day for a month while I was at work. Otherwise he would sit in the condo and scream like a woman. I would drop him off before 7:00 a.m. and pick him up at 4:00 ish. He was the size of a tin can so I'm sure being so small and having people always want to pet him is intimidating to a tiny dog, and as he grew slightly larger he decided that really the most fun thing to do with people was to chase them and bite their ankles and scare them.
It was subtle at first and then over the years it became more obvious that he wasn't just singling out certain people (like my brother whom he particularly had a great hatred for) but really anybody was fair game.
When we moved to our house and I was pregnant he was very protective of me. People could enter the house but were not allowed to leave the front room....or really just move in general. If they moved even a muscle he then saw them as fair game to go after and scare.
He enjoyed lying in wait in our new backyard, flat in the garden, waiting for our elderly neighbor George to come walking in his backyard, oxygen tank in hand, for some fresh air. As soon as George got half way across the yard Cody would pop up from the garden and start barking. One day George exclaimed "That dog scared the s#@t out of me!"
If we took him on walks he found it entertaining to go after much larger dogs, soon the walks had to stop. If we held him while people came over he would look innocent and sniff the backs of their hands and then looking up at them with his big dark eyes he would proceed to try and snap a chunk of their skin off. That was when we started having to lock him up when company came.
He is the most loving, sweetest, cuddly dog when he is with family. He has never attempted to hurt the girls or any of us (although he has tried to attack Bri when he is wearing a baseball cap coming up the walk, "hey you can't expect me to recognize that guy if he is going to disguise himself with a hat!")
He also loves my parents and Bri's parents but that is it. He does not see the point in expanding his circle of friends.
When we take him to be groomed or to the vets he couldn't be sweeter. There is something about home and his need to protect that makes him act this way.
People have suggested the Dog Whisperer, or taking him to a dog shrink. At this point we have just accepted the fact that this is his personality, and we must keep him under lock and key at all times to prevent any kind of law suit!

He has a particular newfound love for G. As she has gotten older he is less wary of her motives when she approaches him. He actually stays put and doesn't just slyly remove himself from the room when he hears her call him name. He sleeps on her bed at night and takes her his little stuffed bear for a game a catch. When she is worried about something we find her sitting somewhere with him tucked in her lap. They are true companions.

And on a day like today when she and I are hunkered down sick there is no better company than our little dog.