Critter Tails Fires spark memory of K-9




SENSITIVE GUY—Cody’s  caretaker  worried  about  how  she’d rescue her favorite pal in case of a fire. Now that the loveable old boy is gone, she misses him.

SENSITIVE GUY—Cody’s caretaker worried about how she’d rescue her favorite pal in case of a fire. Now that the loveable old boy is gone, she misses him.


Our fire escape plan amounted to who would take which dog. We often had three dogs at once and each family member was assigned responsibility for one. For the 10 years we had Cody, an 80-pound shepherd/lab mix, this plan represented no small challenge.

When we adopted Cody from the Agoura animal shelter, he was an abused, nervous dog who didn’t much like people.

He stayed that way until the day he died. But he was also a dog I fell in love with, a dog who shared my twin bed throughout high school, who ate ice cream with me from a single spoon and rested his head in my lap while I watched TV.

If a fire broke out, I was responsible for Cody.

As a family, we sat down at the dinner table to draw our escape route. We could only imagine a fire occurring at night and crafted a route from each second-story bedroom to the backyard below.

Our bedroom windows open above a trellised patio, a creaking, weathered series of whitewashed 4 x 4s. To escape a fire from my bedroom, I would have had to climb atop my dresser, push out the screen, crawl out the window, creep across the strongest patio beams and then jump down 10 feet into our swimming pool—all this while cradling a neurotic, frightened 80-pound dog.

Thankfully, we never needed to enact the plan. Cody died a year ago. On his last day, I sat with him in the yard, his head in my lap, a can of whipped cream between us that I’d periodicaly squirt into my hand for him to lick.

When I adopted a new dog a few months later, I chose a terrier. He’s 12.8 pounds.

And as fate would have it, when we did have to evacuate during the recent fire, it was nothing like we had planned. The dogs had no idea there was a disaster. They happily followed our flight to Oxnard where we spent the day on the beach. Lisa Sutton Morrison Ranch Agoura Hills

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