13 years and 11 months (almost to the day), that’s how long we were together. She was 6 months when we met at the shelter at Angell Memorial and it was love at first sight. I don’t know what made me go up to the shelter that April day, but I did. We went for a walk out back and I was hooked. Ran home to call my landlords and lo and behold they said yes! When I went back up to Angell to finish the paperwork there were two other groups deciding who had dibs in case my landlord said no. (There was no way that was happening. I had a Plan B, she was coming home with me no matter what, even if it meant moving.)She was a handful at first. Typical crazy ADHD puppy. She was also terrified of fire hydrants, basements, low rumbly noises (but not thunder), and absolutely HATED hands anywhere near her neck (certainly made putting on her leash a challenge), and was incapable of walking on a leash. But we worked through it all. And through it all she was a sweet pup.
She loved meeting people, and charmed everyone she met. When we would attend training classes and would let the dogs off leash to burn off energy – the other dogs played with each other while Java preferred to go around and said hello to all the humans.
She rarely barked (definitely less than 10 times in all the years I knew her), but was vocal in other ways. And her yips and twitching paws in her doggie dreams were adorable.
She would play fetch with the frisbee for hours. Tree wrestling at the Secret Pond was her favorite sport. The shelter said she was part chow and lab and I’m convinced part fish – she absolutely loved water.
We went everywhere together. Her first outing (pictured above) was to the Special Olympics in Connecticut to watch my brother compete. We went skiing, hiking, camping on Squam (she loved that), she came to all my soccer games (and played frisbee at half time), she came shopping, to work, and on many trips to the beach.
I miss her terribly, but my nephew had the best words of comfort – she is up in heaven with her best friend Luna (my nephew’s dog who passed a few years ago). And they are romping and playing in the grass, and playing tag, and cuddling together when done with all the fun. And the best part is that Luna isn’t alone in heaven any more.
