A New Tribal Member

This post by Kasey and wes©.

[wes©] Many of you have been praying for us as we have sought to find a perfect puppy for the Coddington Tribe. The Lord has answered your prayers, thank you for praying them! We have wanted a German Shepherd for months. With Dakota and Kadin going to college, we knew Kasey would have a tough time – she is joined at the hip with her big brothers! We also wondered if we really wanted a big dog. Karen and I grew up with Shepherds and we love how smart and protective they are, but we were hoping to get a smaller one – not that that you’re ever guaranteed on a size. We wanted a dog that would bond with the Tribe, and especially Kasey, and one that would enjoy learning tricks with Kasey. Well…

We found a family who had a 2.5 month old puppy that could not keep her due to busyness and having small apartment and yard size. Her dad is a pure bred German Shepherd and her mom is a pure bred Border Collie (two of the smartest dog breeds!). Apparently they were neighbors and while no one was watching… Anyway, the Lord gave us opportunity to adopt a puppy who should have all the traits we hoped for – smaller, smart, amiable and protective.

[Kasey] When we went to go pick her up, the second she saw us coming she ran to us and jumped on dad. It was an instant bond. The whole time we were there she was jumping on us and being very playful. We then got into the car to leave and she was super excited. She went back and forth, one window to the other.

On our way home we stopped at PetSmart so we could pick up a few items for her. We got a leash, a harness, some toys, etc. Because we didn’t have a leash for her, we had to put her in a cart and toured around the store. She was very adorable in it! As we were looking around for our needs, we heard many people comment on how cute she was and what a gorgeous puppy she was. At one point, while we were in line, I accidentally bumped into a box dad had and she immediately tried to climb out on to it. She’s very agile! We have a picture cause as soon as dad saw he took his phone out and snapped a photo. After we checked out we were on our way back to the car. I was rolling the cart while dad carried the big crate box. Suddenly she jumped up and out out of the shopping cart and landed with a face plant right onto the pavement. We got worried but she got up, wagged her tail and walked up to dad with no issues.

When we got home, she didn’t go anywhere without us. She’d stay by our side and waited for us to walk somewhere for her to follow. She loves feet, and she’s already tripped dad and me many times. She either runs through our legs while we walk, or she jumps right in front of us. We ran around with her in the yard for a few hours, but in the first 5 minutes we were in the yard, she managed to get on the rocks and jump off them (3 feet high!) and plant on the ground. We all freaked out, but she just got up and walked away and kept playing. Mom perfectly captured it in a picture! She limped for a minute but that didn’t seem to stop her! No matter how much we ran and played, she just wouldn’t run out of energy.

She nips a bit and that’s what keeps her going. She’s already put a few holes in my jacket and this morning she ripped two big holes in my shirt sleeve! But that’s alright cause she’ll be out of the biting soon. We got her some rawhide to chew this morning and she loves it! One of her favorite toys so far is this squeaky giraffe Dad and I got for her. She just wouldn’t let it go!

Soon after all the play time, we put her to bed. She only whined for a minute in her crate and then she was instantly asleep. Her long day of fun wore her out. This morning she had a lot of energy, but when we went into the car to go on a short trip, she laid on my lap and slowly fell asleep. I think she had a long day yesterday and today is a day of rest. But she might surprise us and suddenly run around with a ton of energy. Wouldn’t be good if that was at bed time!!

[wes©] Right now, our little sweetness has no name! We have a few ideas but we would love some ideas from you! Who knows, you could be the one who helps us name our new Tribal member. Here are some of our thoughts to help guide you.

• We aren’t fond of human names
• We’d love something unique (no Fido or Spot answers)
• Foreign words are often cool when they sound nice and have meaning
• A name that has world mission significance might be neat
• Dakota and Kadin say they are calling her “Moose” no matter what (lol)

These are just thoughts, not rules, so give us what you got!