Cody, a Great Pyrenees

A white dog dances again
By Lisa Marchesoni
Posted: Sunday, December 24, 2006 10:14 am
A 4-year-old California girl believed someone would answer her letter seeking to find her white puppy lost half a continent away.

Kennedy and Morgan Pilgrim love their dog Cody.

A retired Murfreesboro couple's connection to a romantic, white dog story made the little girl's belief become a reality.

As Morgan Pilgrim enjoys Christmas tomorrow in California, she'll celebrate being reunited with her beloved giant puppy Cody — thanks to Bill and Betsy Clark of Sulphur Springs Road, and their fateful link with "To Dance with the White Dog."

Morgan, her 3-year-old sister Kennedy and their parents, Seth and Suzanne, life in Sacramento, Calif., but fell in love with the Middle Tennessee lifestyle during a visit with family earlier this year, said mother Suzanne Pilgrim.

"We wanted our girls to grow up with that (lifestyle) rather than the California mentality," Pilgrim said.
While awaiting their move this week, they moved in with her mother whose yard didn't have a fence.

Cody, their Great Pyrenees dog, was moved about three months ago to Lascassas to stay with Morgan's Uncle Steve Prince.

But on the night of Oct. 16, Cody didn't want to come inside so Prince left him outside. Cody disappeared.

Prince searched for Cody and asked neighbors if they had seen him. His sister, Suzanne, frantically called veterinarian offices and the county's Pet Adoption Welfare Services.

She flew to Rutherford County Oct. 31 and distributed about 100 flyers with Cody's picture. She visited at PAWS where she learned a Great Pyrenees dog died near their new home on Wayward Trail off Jefferson Pike near Lascassas. She believed the dog was Cody.

"My girls were devastated," Pilgrim said. "They kept saying prayers Cody would be there when we got there. They bonded with him. He followed the girls everywhere they went."

The family was heartbroken. Morgan didn't give up.

"I wrote a letter to the post office all about Cody," Morgan explained in a telephone interview. "I sent some toys in case he would not come home — and snacks."

Morgan believed the mailman knew everyone and would be able to distribute her message about her lost dog. The family mailed the letter and waited.

In mid-November, retired sports editor Bill Clark of Sulphur Springs Road stayed awake late one night. He spotted an animal outside his home near Nice Mill.

"I didn't know if it was a wolf," Clark remembered. "It was nosing around the door. I realized it was a dog."

He approached the dog that seemed gentle. He called out to his wife, Betsy, a former elementary school teacher, about the white dog. Betsy Clark, who has a keen sense of humor, first reacted by pinching herself to see if she was still alive.

Her reaction came because of the couple's connection to a novel by Terry Kay, a writer her husband met while working in Atlanta. Kay wrote, "To Dance with the White Dog." The Clarks had seen the movie starring Jessica Tandy. Betsy Clark summarized the plot of the love story.

When his wife of 57 years died suddenly, Sam Peek, 81, told his worried children about a beautiful white dog only he could see. Peek believed his wife returned as the dog.

So, Betsy Clark climbed out of bed to see the "beautiful" white dog. Her husband agreed with her description.

"He's the most spectacular dog, appearance-wise, I've ever seen," Bill Clark said. "He was dirty. He didn't look like a dog that had been starving."

They fed the dog for several days. On the third day, Betsy Clark called PAWS to locate the owner.

She appreciated the unidentified PAWS employee who flipped through pages and pages of information until he found a lost Great Pyrenees with a blue collar along with Pilgrim's name and number.

Betsy Clark was unsure because the white dog wore a yellow collar but she telephoned Pilgrim in California.

When Pilgrim received Clark's call, she was skeptical because she believed Cody was deceased and because of the yellow collar.

"If she wasn't so persistent, we probably wouldn't have gone," Pilgrim recalled.

Pilgrim sent her brother Prince to check out the white dog located about 20 miles away from where Cody disappeared. Betsy Clark got in Prince's car and they drove around searching for Cody. They couldn't find him.

When Cody returned later, Clark notified Prince who examined the dog with the yellow collar. At first, Cody didn't seem to recognize Prince. Prince wasn't sure if the dog was Cody.

When Prince started to walk away, Cody jumped on him and Prince realized it was Cody. The collar had faded but showed a blue tint on the back. When Prince took him home, Cody nudged the doorknob like he was trained to indicate he wanted to go outside, reinforcing to Prince the dog was indeed Cody.

Prince drove Cody cross-country to California in early December so Morgan and Kennedy could spend the Christmas holiday with their pet.

"When they woke up in the morning and saw him, they were screaming," Pilgrim said. "He was acting like a little puppy. I knew for sure it was Cody."

Morgan is happy Cody returned home.

"I played with him," Morgan said. "I got him toys for Christmas. He will sleep with you."

Morgan and her mother called the Clarks to thank them for rescuing Cody.

Betsy Clark said she heard Morgan's "sweet little voice saying, 'Thank you for reading my letter.'"

Although she didn't receive the letter, Clark informed her mail carrier he might get some attention from a trusting little girl.

The Clarks, who make visitors feel welcome at their home, invited the Pilgrims to visit after the family settles this week into their new Rutherford County home. Pilgrim can't wait to meet her new friend.

"I think she's wonderful," a grateful Pilgrim said of Betsy Clark. Betsy Clark said Pilgrim sent a thank you card and "adorable" photographs of Morgan and Kennedy with Cody.

"It made my Christmas," Clark said.

Source: http://www.murfreesboropost.com/a-white-dog-dances-again-cms-1433 or http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=1433