Borealis 2015-2016

My Pal Joey “Pal Joey” is the name of a 1957 musical starring Frank Sinatra. It is also a great description of my best friend and companion, Joey. I met Joey 5 years ago, and I can’t imagine life without him. He is always happy to see me, and whenever I see him, it puts me in a better mood. My best friend is a dog, and his name is Joey. Joey is a Black Lab, which is a very big type of dog. He weighs almost 80 pounds. This is the story of how Joey joined my family. When I was seven, my dog Bo died. Bo was a great dog, a huge Golden Retriever, bigger than Joey. My parents had Bo before I was born, so he lived with me literally my whole life. I was sad when he died of course, and I missed him, but I was too young to get really emotional over it. A year after he died, we got a cat. While cats are great, they are different from dogs. A cat won’t run to greet you at the door; they just don’t have the same sense of companionship. So after another two years or so, my parents decided to get dogs, because we all missed Bo. On a February day, three months before my birthday, my dad asked me “what do you want for your birthday this year, Jake?” “I’m not really sure yet,” I told him. “There will probably be a new video game I want com- ing out in May.” “This year, your mother and I want to get you something special. We’re thinking about getting you a puppy.” I was so excited! My own puppy? Up until then, I hadn’t realized how much I truly missed Bo. We were going to get two puppies, one mine, and one my dad’s, so they would each have a brother to keep them company during the day, while everyone was at school and work. I got to pick what type of puppy, and I got to name it. I wanted to get either a German Shepherd or a Black Lab. I ended up having to go with Black Lab, because we were concerned German Shepherds could be too aggressive with children. I named him Joey, after my favorite baseball player, Joey Votto. My dad did all the research about where to get the puppies. He decided on a breeder in Sha- wano, Wisconsin, about an hour away. When Joey’s litter of pups was born, he notified us, and sent us pictures of the puppies. They were all adorable! There were 9 of them, all the size of a soda can. After another month we were allowed to visit them. I was surprised to find out the breeder was just a regular guy, with a regular house. A regular guy with a great job, that is. While the breeder talked to my parents about all of the rules and regulations regarding adopting a puppy, I got to play with all the pups. Getting to see and pet all of these puppies got me very excited for the day I got to take one home. I couldn’t wait. A couple weeks later, that day finally came. We drove out to Shawano for the second time. Since my dad and my sister chose our other puppy, Lucky, about a week earlier, my mom and I got to choose the Black Lab. We knew we wanted a boy, so that narrowed the choice down from nine to five puppies. We decided that the best way to choose was to play with the pups for a little bit. It was hard to decide because they were all so cute and friendly! After about 15 minutes, we final- ly made a decision. We picked Joey because he was one of the most playful puppies, but he also settled down and let us pet him. It is a great combination, and he is still like that today- sometimes wild and cheerful, and sometimes lazy, lying next to me on the couch. After we chose Joey, we got in the car. I got to sit in the back seat with him. We had laid down a blanket for him to sit on, and I brought him a toy to chew on, a small rope panda bear. Joey was very well-behaved for the whole one-hour drive. He occasionally whined, missing his old home, but he was more than happy to meet me.

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