Harvey

On November 15, 2013 we met Harvey.

I had been wanting to get a puppy while we still had Mattie, because I believed she would have a calming influence on a young dog, and would make training easier. We tried one dog from the local shelter, whom I loved, but who was afraid of Chuck. When we took her back I started looking for labradoodles and goldendoodles. We found a litter of puppies in Hutchinson and made the decision to go for it.

As I was leaving to pick up the puppy I called out to Chuck, "I have no ideas for a name. Do you have any?"

Chuck loves learning Spanish and one of his techniques is to watch movies dubbed in Spanish. His favorite at the time was a Jimmy Stewart movie about a 6 ft. invisible rabbit named Harvey.

He called out, "What about Harvey?"

It was perfect.

Two days after we brought home this big bundle of fun, Mattie woke up obviously in her final hours. We skipped church that morning and sat with her as her life slipped away.

Harvey's first big outing was to Camp Mennoscah for a weekend celebration of my parents' 60th anniversary on Thanksgiving weekend of 2013.

 

His second trip was a weekend away with us at Red Hills Retreat, owned by Jeremy and Jyl Ewy in February.

 

We took him on vacation to O'Haver Lake campground, west of Salida, Colorado where he had a great time in the van, in motels, in the campground and on hikes.

H didn't quite fit on a seat in the van but he would try valiantly until it became to uncomfortable and then he would sleep on the floor.

admiring Chuck's catch

Throughout his life, Harvey was a regular attender at our home church, First Mennonite Church in Newton, KS. He was a big hit with the kids, even winning over some who had previously been quite afraid of dogs.

 He was huge, as you can see from the pictures. In the mornings Chuck would often get up first and let Harvey out of his crate and greet him. Then Harvey would make his way to me, still in bed. He would lay his huge head next to me on the bed and wait for his morning neck massage.

I was planning to work with him as a therapy dog and have been actively training him since we got him. He still had some work to do. It took a long time to learn to walk with a loose leash but we finally got that figured out. He still did not know how to calmly meet another dog. He just got too excited and I was still reading everything I could get my hands on to find the training method that would work for him. (I think I found the right book for that particular problem after he died, so I'll have that info for future use.)

We also had not figured out the best way to keep him from getting on the road. He mostly went there when he was following our other dog, who was a car chaser, so we usually tied up the other dog when we let Harvey out. That worked well. 

But when our lives turned toward saying our goodbyes to Dad, our vigilance relaxed. Chuck was on the phone with me, checking up on things when Harvey needed to go out. In the few minutes it took to finish that call, the dogs had taken off after a car. George made it across. Harvey ran into the car. He had lived with us 364 days.

We have a new pup, whom I will introduce sometime in the future. He is great. 

He does not take Harvey's place. We miss him every day. Chuck has been building fences in his sleep every night and has figured out his plan and priced the materials. But his morning run without Harvey is a pretty lonely time of day.

We are grateful for Harvey, and for the way he touched so many lives beyond our own.

Taken a few days before Harvey died.

Invitation to play