My dear Kuvasz Kodi has been diagnosed with osteocarcinoma.

Thanks for asking about Kodi. I did not want to bore anyone with a day by day account, and was waiting for her next trip to the Vet School to post an update.

She went back to the Vet School only today. Recently, she has been bright and alert. She is still a bit lame on her front left leg and she still has weakness in her hind legs after walking or standing for while. But overall she is as good as she was after completion of her radiation therapy.

Today she had x-rays of her left humerus to evaluate it for changes associated with her tumor. Luckily, there were no appreciable differences; in fact, the growth seems to have shrunken along one spot. But it could just be the way the x-ray was run. Nonetheless there has been no growth or appearance of further bone degeneration.

For the past two weeks Kodibear has been moving no worse than two months ago before the therapy, so the radiation and Pamidronate infusion seems to have arrested th growth for now. In three weeks I take her back for chest x-rays to see if there is any metastasization.

She seems as happy as ever. The meds help and she is walking around the yard with the other dogs. I bought a couple of squeaky toys for the pup Raja, but as soon as Kodi heard the squeak, she came off the porch to claim them. Once, Kodi dug up a squeaky toy as a pup in the yard she was living in and it was her toy I carried with us in three later places we lived, and ever since then she has considered all squeaky toys hers.

The pup Raja is growing like a weed. His pack sense is improving, Pavlovian there. He is getting his ass chewed out when he steps out of line. Both Dr J and Abba have dropped the hammer on Raja more than once. Kodi is accepting Raja and he is sleeping close to her in the evenings.

The funniest thing is that Raja is curious about Little Bit, and seems to always want to sniff her. Of course, this pisses off Little Bit who has become a fierce 8 pound ball of fire over it. She will growl at him and raise her hackles then charge him repeatedly, where upon one of the other dogs, usually Abba or Aja stand next to Little Bit to show support of her attack.

Only Lucky broke out today when I took Kodi to the vet. She edged her way past the barbed wire and a cinder block, but was waiting by the gate when I returned.

It has rained here for two straight days, so the dogs are sleeping strategically spread out in each room, one my bed (Aja), Kodi in the library, Little Bit on the table, Dr J is on the sofa, Lucky is sleeping on the recliner, Abba is by my side, Raja is on his spot in the hallway (so he and Kodi can look at each other). I think Kodi has taken to him and he recognizes her as the leader of the pack and this is a way to show his difference.

Some pix.



A three-fer, Lucky, Little Bit, and Kodi.





Thanksgiving Night. Note the food bowls full; they were holding out for turkey.



A very good day for her.



Raja, who at this age looks very much like Kodi did at the same age.....note multi-colored squeaky toy to his right.



Raja is a handsome fellow. He and my first Aja (see my avatar) have the sweetest face on a Kuvasz I have ever seen.

I thank you again for your interest in Kodi's odyssey these past few months. She seems so much like a force of nature that I catch myself thinking that she will always be here with me and that every time I look out the door she will be there smiling at me.

We are looking forward to her birthday on December 25th a great deal around here!

I don't think any of us following are bored by any of your posts re Kodi and cohorts. Certainly I'm not.

A wonderful account -- the suspense of how Kodi is doing makes it bittersweet, but I love stuff like, "[Little bit] will growl at him and raise her hackles then charge him repeatedly, where upon one of the other dogs, usually Abba or Aja stand next to Little Bit to show support of her attack."

The pack stuff is fascinating.

Kuvas, I am not bored either! Please tell us your stories.

And more pictures! I love the pics!

I'm with this poster from the previous page..

The K. family is SO much more interesting than other threads here "... my husband hits me..." "...am I homosexual?..." "...why am I fat?..." ....yawn...........!!

CAN you imagine dogs pondering such idiot questions?? Never!!

Ah happy news and good pics! Thanks!

Ditto on more news of Kodi and the pack and more pics. Love those faces. And yes, the dog conversations and relationships are so often more meaningful and loving than those human blatherings.

Yes to what Diane said and we'll be well-behaved for a while --- everybody was anyway, man and dog, 'xcep[t me but never mind that --- and yes we all want news as soon as convenient for you to post

Also following news of Kodi. Very nice news. I think several people are interested to read as much as you'll write.

Thank you for letting me share my love of my dog pack with you all. sometimes I feel like one of those crazy little old lady cat people who have a hundred cats in their house.

Kodi has been looking good the past several days and has that big smile on her face. I think its partly the chicken breast she gets daily and an ice cream smile!

It has been cold here at night and although Kodi normally stays outside and loves the chill, I have taken the precaution to cover her up to protect that shoulder that has been shaved for her radiation therapy.



Getting cold out here! Thanks for blanket, Dad!





Kodibear, the Jedi Knight!


Around 10PM she goes down the ramp and does her business, circles the house to make sure no one has stolen the back door, then climbs the ramp at the back door and bangs on the door. She walks in and down the hallway and either stops at the library and goes in to sleep the night away or proceeds thu the kitchen and right out the front door to her spot on the front porch again. I like that she does this since I can readjust the foam pad and sleeping bag for her to lie down on, because she usually makes a mess of the bedding and it needs to be rearranged. The only problem is that as soon as Kodi goes down the ramp the other dogs call "dibbs" on the sleeping bag and there is a rush to take Kodi's sleeping spot. I have had four dogs just lay down on the blanket as I am trying to re-arrange it and they all snort when I shush them off it for Kodi to come back and lay down. It's funny, because now Abba and Luckie wait to see what Kodi will do in the house and if they see she has decided to sleep in the library, the run to get her outdoor spot. Of course, Aja and Dr J sleep on the couch and don't know what all the fuss is about since they know the couch is way more comfortable.

Raja is acting like such a foolie dog all the time now and is playing with Dr. J more each day. I think Doc is building an ally in Raja to support him in a coup d'etate against Abba being Number 2 in the pack. But yesterday, Lucike put a hurting on Raja when Raja poked his nose near her while she was eating... Luckie chased Raja out of the house, down the ramp, ran him down 25 feet from the house, then jumped on his back and kicked his butt. Even Kodi was barking at Luckie for that. But Raja, swet soul that he is, came right back up the ramp wagging his tail and Kodi licked him on the nose as if to say, "Lesson learned, watch it next time little fella'." Raja gave Luckier a wide berth after that.

Little Bit is still chasing Raja whenever Raja tries to sniff her butt, and it is hysterical to see her stand on the couch with her hair all bristling on her back, growling at him eye to eye as Raja is standing on the floor barking at her.


Little Bit in her Chihuahua Kung Fu Crane stance, waiting to kick Raja's butt


Raja has such a sweet disposition and he has started to bond with me and follow me wherever I go. He is still so gangly that at times he appears to be on stilts when he runs around the yard playing, but increasingly he suddenly breaks into a majestic run that puts all those body parts together and looks like a tiger chasing prey. It is beautiful to watch this growth and nascent command of his body. He is going to be a beautiful kuvasz when he is grown. He has perhaps the best body and nearly the best looking head of any kuvasz I have raised. I look forward to his adult years with me.

Perhaps those nights sleeping next to Kodi has begun to wear off on him, because he just came in the back door jumped in my lap and has now fallen asleep on top of my feet, just like Kodi used to do. I am happy that I got Raja now so he could have some continuity with Kodi, so if all goes well Raja will have a living memory of her 10 years from now.

I contacted my old roommate I had when I got Kodi back in 1993 to let him know what is happening with her and he has dropped by A2K to see the pix. Say hello Mark! Mark was co-daddy to Kodi and used to give Kodi hot dogs. When Marks's dad, a famous chemist visited us he slept on the sofa bed and in the middle of the night we heard a scream and ran to the living room to see Mark's dad, a small guy of about 150 pounds underneath 250 pounds of Aja and Kodi who were licking him! Quite a night for all of us.

Best to all of you and thank you for your kindness and concern for Kodi. Sharing this helps.

It's delightful, kuvasz, even with the underlying sadness. A season. really.

Setanta came downstairs with Cleo just as Bailey and I were looking at the pix, and I was reading the latest chapter of life at the Kuvasz ranch.

That Kodi sure is a smiley-face girl.

You've got some great friends there, Mr. Kuvasz.

Kuvasz, your story of the pack is great reading. I hope you finally realize that all of us truly love to hear of the dogs and Kodi's progress, so please continue with the family series.

On Thanksgiving, we went to the house of friends who have a Malamute/ timberwolf mix. His name is Osiris, he is 11 years old and a pussy cat. I know that wolf mixes can be iffy, that the wild wolf can appear, but Osiris is absolutely gentle.

His coat is a beautiful buff with black tipped hairs. Huge, furry ears and an intelligent face--gorgeous eyes. He was daintily eating little milk bones we had brought--gently taking them from our fingers.

If we didn't have such a small house, I'd love to have a pack like yours. Really can't imagine life without a dog.

Thanks again for keeping us up to date.

Thank you. Little Bit made me laugh, and what a gentle giant Kodi is.

Very enjoyable thread.

Hello all. This week Wednesday, Kodi was doing quite well; we all went out to the far back yard, mostly because I was trying to grab the squeaky toy from Aja who was playing with it. I was trying to get it for Kodi because each time Aja bit into the toy it squeaked and Kodi's ears perked up. Kodi followed me out to the back, about 100 yard walk for her and she looked pretty good, still limping on her left foreleg, but cruising along and not much apparent pain.

Later Wednesday I noticed that she was reluctant to walk down the ramp I have built for her at the front porch. I had bought some firm griping rug for her to get traction, but still she was very reluctant to walk down the ramp. In fact she came back in the house, and went out the back door where the ramp is less inclined. But Wednesday night, she walked up the ramp and settled down on her sleeping bag. Since it started to rain yesterday morning about 2 am I went out and got Kodi in the house so she could stay dry. Normally she loves staying out in inclimate weather so I had to seduce her into the house with a chicken breast, but after she got in I dried her off as she sat in the library, all day she stayed in the library, while it rained and only got up to go out around night fall to do her business. Again, she went out the back hall to the back door. Which she usually doesn't like to do because she has to walk by the heater intake port on the floor in the hallway. She is always hesitant to walk past it as if she will fall in!

So as I watched her do her business she appeared okay and walked around the entire house checking things out under the back porch then sat outside in the cold rain and seemed okay. I called her to see if she wanted to come in but she ignored me. I threw her a buscuit (usually that lets me know she is okay if her gobbles it right up), yeap she ate it right up, so I went inside for 15 minutes figuring that she would come in when she wanted. I watched her from the window try to walk up the ramp three times, then I went out to see her, she tried to run from me and fell on her belly like she did in the van when I was bringing her back from the vet hospital a month ago, and I ran to pick her up. She got up and seemed okay, but she was still not able to come up the ramp even as I sat coaxing her sitting half-way up the ramp. The other dogs came all around making it more difficult for her to maneuver which pissed me off so I started screaming at them to move away from her. Finally she got half way up the ramp again and then decided to go back down. She was limping pretty bad on her leg and I sat with her in the rain as I covered the both of us with a big blanket, finally when she got up I used the sling I got from the vet school that you put under her belly and a leash to guide her and walked, lifted her up the to the porch. She came inside and I dried her off again and she ate another chicken breast and I gave her two tramadol pills and she settled in the living room for the night. I slept next to her on a blanket until about 1 am then went to bed, when I got up at 6am Kodi was out of the house, down the ramp and sitting in the front yard with a big smile on her face when she saw me. I gave her the morning pills and chicken noodle soup and walked her around the yard checking her gait. She was limping more on her left foreleg, and was not at all walking like she was even two days ago. She did not show any pain, and I watched her sleeping (even on her left side) most of the day from my window. She did not come up on the porch at all in the afternoon as she usually does. So I went back out an hour ago to sit with her. She seemed okay, (she gobbled up another biscuit) but as she rose, she was hardly able to put any weight on her left foreleg. She was walking very gingerly and avoided the ramp. So again, I gave her two tramadol and used the sling to get her back up on the porch, where she has just now dined on another nice juicy chicken breast.

I am afraid that she has had some degeneration of her foreleg and soon she will not be able to use that leg at all. As she moves from sitting up to reclining, she can use the leg for balance, but is flipping it out instead of using it firmly for balance. The weather is now clear and I am hoping that all she has shown is some stiffness in her leg. I will watch her for the next day to see what is happening. I expected that this is how it would happen, a gradual decline, demarked by a sudden change in her ability to do simple things. I was afraid this is how she will go. Not so much from the cancer, but from the lameness crippling her long before the cancer consumes her.

Tonight and thru the weekend I intend to shoot home movies of her and me and pray for the best.

I guess the biggest fear I have is that if I take her back to the vet right now he will tell me that it is the end. So I want to give Kodi another few days with me and the rest of the pack. She seems so happy when she is sitting with me or surrounded by the pack as they lick her chops, especially Abba and Luckie, who both sleep by her side on the porch.

I wish I had better news, but I don't. But maybe, as always, Kodi will bounce back and fool us all. I hope so. I really do.





Kodi last night watching me wrestle with an internet virus worm, laughing at me as I was cussing my antivirus software.






Kodi, with Luckie, an hour ago. Note Kodi's reticent look. I think she is in some pain.

I hope this is not the last good pix I can post of Kodi

Me too. Dear girl.

Good thoughts are coming your way, Kuvasz.

She looks beautiful in the latest pics. What a wonderful face, expressive, gentle and sweet natured.

Aw, sweet Kodi. Kuvasz, I know your pain.

She's a good and beautiful friend, Kuvasz.