This morning, our sweet, precious Larkin passed peacefully into Heaven. We are heartbroken without our boy, but we are comforted in knowing that he happy and running free. He left us with a smile of pure peacefulness on his face. Larkin has been a beloved member of our family since he was an 8 week old puppy, and I was an 18 year old high school senior who begged her parents for a dog (three months before leaving for college). He ran up to me and untied my shoelaces, and I knew he was ours. My mom later said that bringing Larkin home was the best decision she ever made. Larkin was so good, so mild-mannered, that it made his impish streaks all the more funny. I taught him to fetch the newspaper, a job he practiced overzealously as he insisted on fetching *everyone’s* morning paper when I took him jogging when I was home on break. I often had to wrestle several neighbors’ Washington Post away from him (I apologize to those of you on Ponderosa Drive who found their Style section was more a little rumpled in the early 2000s). Larkin love to carry the biggest stick he could find on walks, and when a suitable stick could not be found, an empty gallon milk jug from someone’s recycling bin worked just fine. I can remember more than one walk where cars stopped, pointed, and pulled over, laughing at the Labrador who so proudly trotted along with a milk jug in his mouth. A true Labrador, Larkin was happiest when he was in the water. He learned to swim when he was 4 months old, and if he had one complaint in life, I think it would be that his home wasn’t at the beach. He would walk out of his way just to run through a puddle, and loved to flip his water dish over in an attempt to create a pool for himself. Larkin was perhaps the only dog I know who could recognize the Starbucks logo…he once knocked over my chai latte and lapped it up, and from then on, he would beg me for some every time I came over with a chai in hand (of course, I obliged him). I cherished my role as the “fun aunt” in Larkin’s life (though technically I was his sister). I loved to have him over to my place for the weekend, where I would take him to the park and swimming. Our outings always included a vanilla ice cream cone (Larkin’s favorite) and a trip to PetSmart to pick out a new toy. Larkin would always manage to consume at least one treat from the impulse buy items located at the register, forcing me to hand a slobbery wrapper over to the cashier and sheepishly ask them to ring me up for the already-consumed item. I worried when I adopted my Brody back in 2010 that Larkin would be jealous, but I should have known better. Larkin was a selfless soul who saw the addition of Brody not as my love being divided, but his being expanded. The look on his face when I brought Brody over to meet him for the first time was one of exuberant joy; even as his body grew weary these last few months, the mention of Brody’s name is the one thing that was always guaranteed to reignite his spark. Larkin knew how blessed he was to have a loving home his entire life, and he loved participating in Lab Rescue events to raise money for Labs who weren’t so fortunate. Along with Brody, Larkin twice had the honor of being a calendar model for the Lab Rescue Calendar (Mr. August 2011 and Mr. July 2012), and he was only too happy to use his handsome looks in a tasteful pin-up shot to raise money for homeless Labs. We had the joy of having Larkin in our lives for over 14 and a half years. We know not everyone gets that long with their beloved companions, and we are thankful that we had so long with him. Our time was not just measured in quantity, but in quality: Larkin acted like a puppy for the first 13 years of his life. It wasn’t uncommon, when people asked his age, to assume that we were speaking in months when we said, “He’s 9” or “He’s 11”. Larkin was both loving and loyal to humans and his canine friends alike. His best friend for the first 3 years of his life was a 97 lb. black Labrador named Max. Larkin loved his Max fiercely, and even though Max moved away when Larkin was just 3 years old, a decade later the mere mention of Max’s name would send Larkin running to the front door with his tail whipping back and forth, hoping to see his old friend. The last thing I told Larkin before he crossed the bridge was that he was going to see Max…and I think that made him happy. Rest easy, sweet boy…I’ll see you again one day. 3/11/2000 – 9/29/2014
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 18:01:35 +0000
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