“Late Spring of 2018, I had a meet-up with Marianne from Street Dog Hero in Bend at a little coffee house on the westside. Marianne told me about setting up the SDH non-profit and its amazing mission of saving street dogs around the world from their awful fate; and ultimately connecting them with Furever Families, aka ‘Heroes’, in the Bend area and beyond.
Not long after that meet-up with Marianne, I realized I needed another pup in my life after losing my last rescue, Deva, a number of years before. Upon searching the SDH website to pursue the pups up for adoption, a post of a handsome Border Collie/Aussie mix, named Bembe, popped up and that sweet face pulled me right in! Bembe had been rescued from Cabo San Lucas by SDH about a month prior and was in a foster home in Portland.
On July 4th, I drove to Portland to meet Bembe and his foster parents who had taken Bembe in and had given him great care and a lot of TLC. Bembe was invested in them to the extent that he growled and barked at me ferociously, protecting them from the ‘intruder.’ I wasn’t sure this was going to be a good match. For an hour, I chit-chatted with his foster parents while tossing treats his way. Another half-hour and he warmed up to being petted and then a leashed walk in the park. At that point I felt comfortable enough to take the trip back to Bend with him. Feeling a name change was in order, he became Cody and during the 3-hour trip home, I’d call his new name and give him a treat. Being the smart little guy he is, he knew his new name pretty well by the time we got to his new home.
More recently, going into 2022, Cody and I settled down in Gold Canyon, AZ where he has the desert to run free and indulge in his favorite pastime: chasing the ‘pesky wabbits’. Unfortunately for Cody, they play the ‘pesky wabbit’ game far better than he, but he’s always assured of getting plenty of cardiovascular exercise, and then some!
Like the many Heroes before and after us, I am grateful for the mission that Marianne and SDH took on for the hundreds of Street Dogs around the world, and seeing them into Furever Families. In particular, I am thankful for my sweet pup, Cody, who SDH rescued from the streets of Cabo and allowed him to become a part of my Furever Family! Thank you, Marianne and SDH!” – Cody’s mom
