I know I haven't been on this board for very long and no one really knows me here. But, I wanted to journal and share a tragic experience my family endured this last weekend. Our 13 year old lab, Cody drowned in our pool this last Saturday night.
I awoke Sunday mornng and as I always do, went outside to say good morning to my 3 dogs and to let the puppy out and do our normal morning routine. Cody was not in the garage, but sometimes she would make a bed out of pine needles in the front yard in the soft ground. I called and looked for her to no avail. Very strange, I thought. So, I made my way to the back of the house with the other 2 dogs following me. That is when I found her.
God only knows what happened. I have theories, but thats all they are and I will never know what really happened. Our first thought was that in the middle of the night, the older dogs heard a critter in the back and went to investigate. Perhaps Buddy accidently knocked her in the pool in his excitedness to run after a critter. Perhaps she became disoriented and fell in. With either of these possibilities, my heart is full of pain to think that she panicked and struggled before she drowned.
Cody never liked the pool. I could never coax her in for fun. So, never had the opportunity to teach her how to get out, where the stairs are. Cody always feared the pool. She really didn't like for us to be in it. And, when our grandkids were small, and Cody felt like they were too close to the pool, she would place herself between them and the pool and nudge them away.
Other theories people have offerred are that she possibly had a heart attack or a stroke and fell in the pool. Or that it was simply her time to cross the Rainbow Bridge and that was her choice of transition from the physical to the spritual.
We will never know. But, in the very least we did have closure. We were able to see her, hold her, pet her, then bury her. My other dogs had closure as well. Buddy, who has been her packmate all his life (8 years) has not had the depression that sometimes occurs with losing packmates. He knows she is gone, there was no question in his mind obviously. He hasn't been looking for her at all.
Thanks for letting me journal. Rest in peace Codycoe, run pain free my love. Join Maxie, Mandy, Diamond, Zeke, Casey and Sam. You all watch for me when its my time.