Lessons for the Vet, and for Life, from Cody - the Lovable Tamaskan Dog




Guest blogger – Cody’s peeps!


Cody’s story begins in the fall of 2007. My Husband and I had just become engaged and we were planning our wedding for August 2008. We had always talked about getting another puppy but with 2 Huskies already we decided to wait until after the wedding. Around mid November I get a call from my husband, he saw an add in the local newspaper for Tamaskan puppies a new wolf-look-alike breed and wanted to go “check them out” and maybe get one from a future litter. I’m sure you can guess what happened next. We took a few days to think it over and we could not stop thinking about this 3 month old puppy named Smokey Joe who we renamed J+J’s Moonshadow Dakota (Cody).


He was a nut when we brought him home, just wanted to play and his appetite was ravenous! We thought he was a little on the skinny side but the vet said not to worry he was a growing puppy and he was a little tough to housebreak but we just figured it was him and the vet again assured us he was fine.

At 10 months old he was due for his check up and first blood test so we could start him on heartworm pills, just routine stuff. I had no concern the next day when the vet called assuming it was going to be the ok to start the pills, my heart sunk as she told me there was something wrong with his kidneys. We brought him back into the vet that day to be retested and to have a sonogram done. The results were the same and the sonogram revealed he had Renal Dysplasia (small kidneys), Polycystic Kidneys, enlarged liver with cysts and 1 enlarged adrenal gland and the prognosis was not good. The vet brought us in the room and my mind was blank as she was trying to explain all these numbers and telling us he would probably only live for another 3 months and that we should put him down. I thought she was crazy. 3 months! Here’s a vibrant, seemingly healthy happy puppy and you want me to do what!? I couldn’t believe my ears and she was just matter of fact, no empathy or sympathy and she offered no help to us.

To top it off my wedding and Honeymoon were exactly in 3 months. So I took my boy home and jumped on the Internet determined to find something and I came across the Dogaware website which led me to the K9Kidney group where I gained a wealth of information overnight. I called the vet the next day asking about subcutaneous fluids and prescription dog food and they said we could come get it but it wouldn’t make a difference. My husband called the vet again to ask more questions and she was very cold and ended the conversation with –and I quote “Don’t plan on a second birthday”.



We decided to take him to a specialist just to definitively rule everything out, they re-did the sonogram and it turned out he only had Renal Dysplasia — there were no cysts and his liver and adrenal glands were both normal. They were even more optimistic and said just keep doing what your doing we’ve seen dogs make it to 5. It was music to our ears!


As time went on I really started to forget about the disease, (well aside from cooking his meals, and giving him his medications and subcutaneous fluids). He was just Cody, never sick or lethargic, always hungry and always super happy! As for the honeymoon we found a great Doggie daycare right by our house that did overnights and they had a wonderful vet that agreed to come every morning and give Codys fluids while we went to Hawaii. I made two weeks worth of food and gave them a copy of his medication schedule. Our other dog Rocky stayed too so he wouldn’t be alone and they even let them sleep in the big room together because the little sleep rooms were only for 1 dog. He did great! They emailed us lots of pictures and when we got back he was as happy and healthy as when we left him.


On June 15, 2009 Cody turned two years old!! Until this day he has never been “sick” - no vomiting or lethargy, he still eats with gusto and can never have enough food. The vet also told us he wouldn’t gain any weight. He was 57 lbs. at diagnosis and he is 75 lbs now, even our new vet is shocked at how much he gained! He looks great and you would never be able to tell there was anything wrong with him. I really feel in my heart that we were meant to have Cody, he has taught us so much. He has to be the happiest most affectionate dog I’ve ever had, even with this disease, getting stuck by needles and a daily cocktail of meds he lives every day to the fullest — his tail never stops wagging!

Just see for yourself.




This entry was posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Canine Kidney Disease, Canine Renal Dysplasia, Wellness, For the Love of a Dog, Kidneys, Practical Puppery, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Lessons for the Vet, and for Life, from Cody - the Lovable Tamaskan Dog”
admin Says:

June 21st, 2009 at 9:43 am
Thank you to our guest blogger. This is such an important reminder that we have to be our pup’s advocate and do our own research, rather than walk away with our tail between our legs.

Good boy Cody! We are proud of you and your caregivers!

The internet story can be found her with the youtube video.

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What a lovely dog! Happy Birthday Cody!!

This video should be sent to the vet who made the initial prognosis... as for the owners, keep up the good work!

Great video, love their accents....lol

heh great news and cool video, Cody looks lovely. I watched some of yr other videos thought the one where he is having a shower was funny, Cody didnt look too impressed mind!!

Congratulations to Cody on his second birthday!

We can certainly second being resolute about getiing the right help for a much loved member of the family

Some of you may have seen our recent post explaining how sick Onai has been.

We as his owners had felt there was something wrong with the way he walked from when he was about 3 months of age. We mentioned it to a vet at our practice who checked his hips and knees and told us there was nothing wrong and that he was just a gangly pup and would eventually grow in to his legs and become more stable. We mentioned it again after he went slighltly lame on on front leg but he was checked for inflammation and again told there was nothing wrong with him
By then we had met up with friends with Tamaskans and other breeds who all commented on his special walk and we began to sound like a broken record contstantly sayng that he was ok and that he was just a gangly puppy......

Then, after a walk in the local country park where he fell over 4 times in about 20 mins we decided that enough was enough and demanded to see the Senior Vet who had treated out Estrela who had had HD.

We walked in the waiting room where Mark met us, he didnt even bother to take us into the waiting room , he said he knew why we had brought him and described his movement as hypometric and ataxic and that he needed an urgent MRI as he felt the problem was spinal.

Mark was right and he was also right to press us to go ahead with the recommended surgery, we were scared as we had lost our Estrela 18 months before to hip dypslasia despite him going through 3 hip replacement surgeries. We felt that this might go the same way and we would have put a 7 month pup though traumatic surgery in vain. But six weeks on we have a happy, almost normal very viable puppy which we are thilled about.

Dont be put off by a vet if you are concerned for your pets health, us as owners know our dogs day to day ways and can determine something is wrong sometimes from the smallest signs that may not be spotted by a vet until things have progressed . Always seek a second opinion if you are worried and don't accept no for answer!!!!

In the limited time I have been owned by a Tamaskan, I can honestly say there is something unique and special about these dogs.

I know that Cody and definitly Onai have been lucky enough to find themselves with very special owners too. People who put their dogs and their quality of life before anything else and who weren't afraid to challenge the first opinion they got because they knew their dogs were worth fighting for

Both lovely stories with happy endings thankfully - congratulations! I agree, these are very special dogs.

Yai for Cody.

Must ask, is this the cody from the few Youtube videos. If so he was one of the reasons I chose to go for the Tamaskan.

I have only had Banjo 6 days and I would already throw myself in front of a truck to save him. My pack comes first, in every aspect of my life. As does everyones pack here.

And the Tamaskan really is a special dog. Very different to any other I have had in the past. So affectionate, and actually quite wolfy in their pack behavior. Also quite a lot more social than alot of the other arctic breeds.

Congrats to Cody and to Onai!

Yay Cody! I can't belive what that first vet was like. How insensitive, . Well Cody showed her.

WOW! Thanks John for posting this!! I havent logged on in a while and I was actually coming on to post this for you guys

Thanks for all the feedback.. Cody is doing great!! He is now 2 years and 2 months and still a nut
He certainly is the Cody in the you tube videos.. were working on another one soon and we were thinking of maybe doing a small story on his daily routine.

I didnt know about Onai.. I am so glad he is doing well! I really think just like people sometimes you need a second or third opinion and a caring vet willing to help.

Hope everyone is well! Take care.. Gina & Cody

Good to hear Cody is doing well. I love Cody! His youtube vids really made me love the Tamaskan breed. Though I've never met him Cody has a special place in my heart.

Ditto to that K.

We lost our first dog to kidney failure, so Cody's story really brought it all back. Unlike your first vet, ours was very supportive and helpfull. Unfortunately Jet's kidney's were really nackered, and despite all our efferts, it was only about a month before we had to make that disition to have him pts. He would be given fluids, only to become lethargic a few day later again. We couldn't get him to maintain weight, just getting him to eat was a challenge in itself, he really hated that special diet, it got to the point were the only way he'd eat it, was if we pretended we'd accidently dropped it on the floor, as apparantly, he felt it was his new job to clean the mess. Even then he'd sometimes ignore it. Also, the muscles in his back legs started to degenerate, meaning he sometimes had difficulty standing or walking.

Hopefully cody will remain happy and healthy for a good long time yet.