Airborne dachshund Cody survives brush with tornado to wag the tale

Airborne dachshund Cody survives brush with tornado to wag the tale

By ARLENE MANNLEIN - H&R Staff Writer



DECATUR - No, he didn't find the Emerald City. No, he didn't visit the Wicked Witch. No, he didn't meet Dorothy.

Or if he did, he's not telling.

And, despite suggestions to the contrary, his family does not want to change Cody's name to Toto. They've heard too many "Wizard of Oz" jokes this week.

Cody is a 5-year-old, red, longhaired Dachshund. His saga began as Sunday night's winds were whipping, lifting the Borns' trampoline up and moving it, ripping the front storm door off its hinges. Maybe that was what really scared the dog. Who knows?

While Bri Born, 14, headed for the safety of the bathroom with Cody and the family's other two Dachshunds, John Born rushed out to try manually closing the garage door, since they'd lost power. Only trouble was Cody, who had only been with the family a year, bolted toward the garage.

"When the tornado came through, (Cody) was literally sucked out of the garage," said Lori Born, Bri's mother. "My husband saw him go; he was three feet into the air.

He was being blown away, wind forcing his tail between his back legs; he was airborne roughly a block, she said as she pointed down the street.

"I know this is unbelievable but it really, really happened," Lori Born said. "Stupid me, I ran out of the house, without shoes, to try to catch him."

She wasn't successful, even when she returned to the house, put on shoes and went in search of him in a vehicle.

"This whole week our family wasn't whole," she said.

The family scoured the neighborhood, posted fliers, put a pet lost notice in the Herald & Review, and Bri Born cried and didn't sleep.

"I figured I slept only about three hours between two days, I worried so about him," Bri Born said. When she searched the neighborhood, she even searched in the drainage areas. They made the other dogs bark, hoping the sound would bring him home.

One of the first things Lori Born did was go over Cody's medical records, hoping she'd find the dog had a locator chip implanted. No such luck, and still no Cody.

However, Tom Corman, who farms in the area, had spotted Cody as early as Monday, but far enough away that he thought the dog was probably a small fox or some other wild critter, Lori Born said.

Through word of mouth, Corman heard about the lost dog, Lori Born said, and secured their telephone number. He called them Thursday - during the downpour - when he again spotted Cody.

Corman followed the dog, who was a mile or so from home, until John Born came. Cody continued to run, though, heading through a cornfield; that's where John Born lost his tennis shoes in pursuit in the already soggy field.

Cody left the cornfield and ran down a busy county highway before finally stopping for Lori Born.

Except for needing a long bath and maybe losing a pound or two with all the running, Cody shows no signs of his saga.

By the way, the only thing that jumped out at Lori Born as she read Cody's medical records was the dog already had been terrified of storms as a Chicago-area resident and had taken tranquilizers for that.

He may need them again.

[link to www.herald-review.com]