I did not want a dog………

Mia wanted a dog. I’d grown up with dogs, Mia didn’t. I wanted a dog but wasn’t sure I was ready for one. I’m so damn happy we got a dog.

In the beginning

This story has been told countless times. Now is a chance to put it in writing so we don’t ever forget. You see, Mia had been scouring pet rescue websites, Facebook sites, etc. for months. In particular she had been following Indigo Rescue. Codi had a listing on their website and like some sort of internet dating website story, Mia fell in love with him at first sight.

Mia called to inquire about Codi’s availability and set up a date to go meet him. Sadly, she was informed that he had recently been adopted and was no longer available. We were both a bit bummed and Mia decided to keep looking for “the one” to adopt.

About 6-8 weeks later we’re stopping in at the Petsmart on Cedar Hills to get some cat food for Caleb. Not our normal Petsmart, we were living in Hillsboro by this time and normally shopped at the one near the Hillsboro airport. We were in Beaverton for some reason or another and decided to swing into this particular Petsmart. There just happened to be an adoption event going on at the same time. Interestingly enough it was Indigo Rescue. Sitting as calm as can be right in front of the sliding glass door to enter the building was this black and brown dog. Mia instantly knew it was Codi and asked the Indigo folks to confirm if it was. They told us that he had been returned from his most recent adoption family because of “issues” with their other dogs. The woman who had him there had been fostering Codi with some of her dogs. Before we even got home Mia had started conversations with the owner of Indigo and after some initial back and forth stuff and interview questions, we set up a delivery date for our new, used dog.

Delivery Day

Codi was delivered to us at our Hillsboro townhouse on September 11, 2014. The owner of the rescue did a quick tour of the house to make sure we were suitable parents for adoption and even had some comments about how “large” our cat was, with a bit of a snotty attitude about it. (He is just big boned).

The funny thing is, she had left Codi in her truck while assessing our dog rearing capabilities. In the less than fifteen minutes she was in our house Codi had worked his way into a bag of dog snacks and scarfed down a majority of the bag (this woman was assessing our ability to raise a dog?). After an exchange of money for dog, we were now proud owners of a two and a halfish year old fuzzball.

The poop this guy took the next morning on our very first walk together was massive! It was definitely a half a bag’s worth of snacks all coming due at once.

The Fine Print

Over the next few weeks, we all settled into a routine. Walk Codi in the morning, breakfast, go to work, walk after work, dinner, repeat. We were lucky that he was crate trained and that he was integrating fairly well with Caleb, our cat. There was a bit of a mutually assured destruction vibe between the two. Codi was definitely a bit scared of Caleb after a few nose scratches in the first few days.

We’d learned that we were Codi’s fourth family in the first two and a half years of his life. This is also when Mia noticed the very first paragraph on Indigo Rescue’s website. Something she had failed to notice all the other times she had been to the website.

“The Mission of Indigo Rescue is to provide specialized, life-saving intervention for animals with unique characteristics and needs that render them unadoptable by shelter standards.”

Basically, they specialize in difficult to place pets. Codi apparently had a bit of history with not integrating well with either kids or other pets. We told him that we’d do everything in our power to work with him and give him a forever home. We still don’t know what other people’s issues were with him, he needed some love and attention and guidance. He definitely had some quirks like randomly lunging at people with hats, dark glasses or hoods up on their sweatshirts, but that lessened over time. We wonder what happened to him in the first few years of his life.

Adventure Dog

Only 17 days after he came into our lives, Codi had his first camping adventure. Over the next 11+ years this dog would visit so many places with us we’ve lost count.

This is the best damn hiking dog ever. Being of a herding breed he had no tendency to wander. He was always more concerned about making sure the two of us were within sight and under control. We would play a little game at times. Each of us would walk in a different direction and he would invariably try to herd one of us back towards the other. It was honestly one of the coolest things.

We just tried to make a list of all the bodies of water and places Codi has visited. It is quite large! The Pacific Ocean, numerous Cascade Range lakes, streams, creeks. Driven across the country and back, swam in Lake Tahoe, visited Yellowstone Lake. Independence Pass in Colorado, Merrimack River in New Hampshire. We had an annual tradition of hiking the thirteen miles around Timothy Lake every fall and he loved it.

If there is one thing this dog loved, it was swims!

As much as Codi “liked” tent camping, we think he really appreciated it when we got Clifford the Big Red Van. It was a more secure place for him to hang out. He had more space than a tent and in true Codi fashion, he loved sleeping on cold, hard surfaces.

Getting Older

It was during the 2020 Pandemic that we noticed Codi was slowing down. He wasn’t as thrilled for the longer hikes and would often be a bit stiff and slow the day after a hike. This was the first signs of arthritis in his back legs. The good news was our vet recommended keeping him active, but the thirteen mile hiking days were probably a thing of the past.

Our neighborhood walks dropped from two miles to one mile to some days around half a mile. His pace went from sub twenty-minute miles to more of a 30ish minute meander.

Often times when grocery shopping on the weekends I would turn to Mia and say we need to hurry up and finish so we can get home. I missed Codi and just wanted to be with him as much as possible. His tendency to help us bring in the groceries, the way we’d always find him asleep in the main entryway just waiting for us to get back. As he aged we both knew that these were things we had to cherish.

In August of 2025 Codi was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and there was a small “growth” (tumor) on his pancreas. Initial biopsy came back negative for cancer which was a relief. We were informed that it would more than likely continue to grow over time. His rear leg arthritis was also progressing to the point where he was taking a Rimadyl (dog-u-profen basically) as a maintenance/daily pain killer. There were mornings or nights his walks were less than five minutes long before he wanted to turn around. But then there would be days where he wanted to do the “long loop” which was a bit more than a mile. We left those decisions completely up to him and let him guide us to what he wanted to do for the day.

As with all our other pets, their health decline is not linear. It happens in steps, where it seems like they’ll be okay then have a noticeable decline rather quickly. Since about mid-February 2026 Codi has most definitely slowed down. Some health issues in the past week have really taken us on a whirlwind of emotions. We’ve had some frank conversations about the quality of Codi’s life, and the doctor was indicating we probably had months at best.

Unfortunately, today March 31, 2026, was the day we had to make the horrible decision. We are both crushed right now. Our souls ache and there is a large hole in our lives.

Codi is the best damn dog and he is loved beyond measure. He is our family member, not just a pet. We took him all over the place, planned our vacations to place that were dog friendly or one of us stayed at home if the other one had to travel.

Codi, Mia and I love you! You are the bestest! There are not words to convey what Codi meant to us. He’s such an integral part of our day to day lives. He lived a great life; we have zero regrets. I’m so damn happy Mia made me get a dog!

If you want to see over 600 pictures of Codi……