Written by Chantelle Knoetze
Professional photography by Picturesque Photography
It was an icy cold and rainy April Sunday afternoon, and my husband, my nine-year-old daughter, and I were driving home. As we passed the corner of Ontdekkers Service Road and Chelsea (which we now call Cody’s corner), we saw a dog’s head pop out of the grass.
Pleading for help
My husband pointed him out, and my first thought was, “There’s no way!” We’d just passed him and, as I looked in the rear-view mirror, his eyes just followed us, pleading with us to help him. So I stopped.
Ontdekkers is a very busy and dangerous road. The idea was to just get him away from the main road, as I honestly believed it had to be someone in the area’s dog.
As we approached the black-and-white dog, he jumped up and looked very excited. Two things went through my head: firstly, he’s a Pit Bull; I have no idea what his history is, my knowledge of power breeds is limited, and I’ve never owned one. Secondly, trying to pick him up and put him in the car was proving tricky – one wrong move and he’d run into the traffic on Ontdekkers.
We had raw chicken in the car as we’d just come from the shops, so we broke pieces off and used this to get him away from the main road. About one kilometre up the road is a vet, so we decided to walk there with him and ask if they could keep him in a kennel until we found the owners.
So my husband took off walking down the road in the pouring rain with me driving at a snail’s pace next to him and a now very happy dog running happily next to him, no doubt with thanks to the delicious chicken that my husband was carrying and feeding to him.
Unfortunately, the vet was closed!
So there we were, standing in the pouring rain with a stray Pit Bull and a handful of raw chicken.
Walking in the rain
We tried getting him into the car using the chicken, but he absolutely refused to even get close to the car. We also didn’t want to try and catch him to put him into the car as we were still wary of him, not knowing what his reaction would be, and I also still had my daughter in the car.
I have four other dogs at home – a seven-year-old Labrador, an eight-year-old mixed breed, and a pair of 10-year-old Jack Russells. I didn’t think that a stray Pit Bull would fit in with this mix. My dogs are my children, and the last thing I wanted was an issue.
At this point, not knowing what else to do, I called the SPCA, but they could only have someone out in about an hour.
We couldn’t stand there in the rain with him for the next hour, so we decided to use the chicken to walk home with him… another two kilometres.
I lost my heart
Once we got home, we put him in the enclosed carport area and gave him food and water, and I proceeded to put his pictures on Facebook and the community WhatsApp groups, still convinced someone would come forward to claim him.
I remember putting a carpet down for him to lie on and he snatched it up and started running around with it in his mouth. I think this is the moment I completely lost my heart to him. He was still just a pup and obviously very confused by all the excitement.
One of the local rescues called to say the SPCA had contacted them to pick him up. The lady explained that if she fetched him, she’d have to surrender him to the SPCA and they may have him euthenised due to him being a Pit Bull.
There was no way I could let this happen to this boy. He was a young, healthy dog and there was absolutely no reason for his life to be cut short, so I agreed to keep him until we found the owners.
I still believed there was someone out there looking for him.
He deserved a family
The next day, we took him to the vet but, sadly, there was no chip. The vet estimated he was between eight and 12 months and possibly crossed with a Great Dane.
We kept posting his pictures on social media, shared with the local vets and SPCA, but nearly a week later still no one had come forward to claim him.
The situation was becoming difficult as my dogs all sleep inside. My heart was breaking leaving him outside in the garage at night, so I’d bring the others inside, put them in their bedroom, and then bring him inside. There was a lot of scratching and barking through the doors.
By this stage, we decided that we’d have to keep him as no one was coming forward.
I believe that he was dumped on that spot where we found him as we’d come across another post from 12PM that Sunday afternoon where someone else had spotted him; we found him there at 3PM that same afternoon. He’d not moved at all in three hours. He wasn’t injured or sick and weak, and he was very clean. If he’d been running, there was no reason he would’ve stopped at that specific spot and just stayed there.
If he’d been abandoned, there was no way I’d do the same to him. He deserved a family that would love him and look after him. So we kept him.
A ghost dog
Cody was an unusual character. He didn’t seem to be used to anything. The first time he came into the house, he did a semi leopard crawl. He was very nervous of everything, and the first time he heard the sound of the TV, he bolted. He didn’t react to us at all and was never interested in us in any way, not even when we tried to give him attention.
I’d never had a dog who didn’t like attention, who wouldn’t react when being called. He was distant and seemed lost in his own world.
When we tried to introduce him to the other dogs, while being on a leash, of course, he’d try and climb on top of them instead – not sniff like a normal dog. It didn’t seem like he’d ever seen another dog in his life.
I was at my wits’ end. I felt like we had this ghost of a dog in our yard.
He wouldn’t socialise, with us or other dogs, and didn’t seem to want to bond with us or get to know us in any way. He had no discipline and was always taking things off the counters. When we’d try to reprimand him, he’d ignore us. I began wondering if he was deaf as I’d never come across a dog who was so aloof. The only time he’d react in any way was feeding time, at which point he’d attack the bowl of food like his life depended on it. I was really battling with this.
We were constantly having to shuffle dogs around. My other dogs would have to be outside when he was inside or vice versa. On rainy days, he’d have to be outside all by himself while the rest were inside. It was awful and made me feel like a monster. Was I really doing him any favours?
Cody fits in
I contacted Jan and Lauryn at Forever Faithful, who specialise in training power breeds. We met with them at 07h30 on a Saturday morning in Fourways, and within 10 minutes, Jan had Cody sitting.
Cody was a different dog and I couldn’t believe my eyes. He looked at Jan with so much love and completely adored him. To see him like that brought tears to my eyes. There was hope for him!
Jan explained that Cody needed an Alpha. He needed someone to make him feel safe; while we were tip-toeing around him, he didn’t feel safe.
One of the things we had to do was hand-feed him for a few weeks – the proverbial “hand that feeds him” – and it worked like a charm!
The next day, my brother-in-law came over and helped my husband with introducing the dogs. I was too nervous, and the last thing my dogs needed was a nervous mom. By the afternoon, they were all friends and Cody was thrilled to be able to play with his new brothers and sister. This was just the beginning of our journey with him.
Once we better understood the mind of a power breed and how to handle them, everything changed. He started coming to us on his own to give and receive attention. He started playing with his toys, instead of dragging blankets and shoes around.
He used to get extremely anxious when we left, but that has also improved as he knows we’re coming back.
Yes, we still have our days. In August he ate my daughter’s birthday cake off the kitchen counter, and he also had a whole pizza all to himself. Last month he decided to turn my whole garden upside down. There were craters in the newly laid grass, and my beautiful Broken Heart plant was a thing of the past.
Getting him into the car used to be a major battle which often left us exhausted afterwards. Now he hops in happily and loves sticking his head out the window as we drive. Unfortunately, he still gets car sick every time we go for training and my car gets vomited in at least once a week.
But would we do this again? Absolutely!
Part of the family
Cody doesn’t leave our side for a moment. He loves cuddles, playing touchers and hide-and-seek with my daughter. He loves rolling around and wrestling with his Labrador brother. He hops around my grumpy older female to get her to join in the game, but one look and he goes off and finds another friend to play with. And he’s so gentle with my sister’s four-year-old foster child who has autism.
Now when Cody looks at us, I see the love and appreciation.
I don’t know where he comes from, but I do know it doesn’t matter. He’s a part of our family now and has completed us. The time we spend together working with him has brought us all closer together and has strengthened our bond.
What I really want to get across by sharing his story is that every dog deserves a chance and, with the correct care, it is possible.
With all the negative media attention surrounding Pit Bulls, I thought it would be good to share his story so others know that, despite him being a stray and despite being aloof when we got him, with the correct care and training, he’s blossoming and is a fantastic animal.
What people also need to realise is that having a pet isn’t just always roses and sunshine. There’ll be challenging moments too, but when you decide to take that animal home, you need to realise it’s a life-long commitment and you’ll have to see it through good and bad times. If you can’t accept this, then you really rather shouldn’t have a pet.
Seeing it through though is fulfilling, and so rewarding. I believe we were meant to find Cody on that road that day. He was always meant to be with us, and I’ll spend the rest of his life working on fixing the wrongs from his past. The love he gives and the joy he has makes it all worth it.
