Nikki Alerhand is in Doggy Heaven.

Nikki Alerhand

Age 16, April 04, 1998 - January 22, 2015

In our version of heaven, we take our beloved Nikki to the park every single sunny afternoon.

-------Born in the snowy hilltops of Tibet once governed by the ancient far-east kings of yore, Nikki came into this world looking to capture the three entities that would come to define her: a loving family, a passion for exploration, and pure unbridled power.

-------When my mom, Mike, and I first met Nikki at the breeder’s house, it was love at first sight. Here was this 4-pound white Shih Tzu looking back up at us—a bit shy at first, but clearly eager for a family to love. She let each of us pet her hair and stroke her belly, while giving us small wet kisses in return. We felt nervous carrying her outside that house into the brave new world, unsure how she would react to experiencing the sunlight for the very first time—that same sunlight under which she would bathe almost daily throughout her entire life. Yet, cool as a cucumber and content as could be sitting in my lap, Nikki took the trip home with us to 10 Weathervane Way, and our lives were never the same again.

-------We like to think that we helped Nikki assimilate to the Alerhand way, but looking back on her nearly 17-year dominion, it becomes clear that it was really us who adapted and conformed to the Tao of the Great White Shih-Tzu. Even as a puppy, it took her all of five minutes that first summer to learn how to lay down or give my grandmother Reyna the “pata” handshake, an interaction she only tolerated so long as it involved receiving a hot dog treat at the end. However, instead of spending more time learning to stand or roll over, Nikki decided that she would rather use that time training us to learn how she wanted her chicken nuggets cut up, which sweaters she preferred in chilly weather, and how she wanted us to lay out the blankets in the living room.

-------My parents had initially planned to Nikki’s wanderings to the kitchen area away from the fancy couches, as well as to refrain from handing her food from the dining table. With a face like hers so unable to refuse, however, it was barely a few weeks before Nikki roamed around and slept anywhere she wanted (at the Rafaloff’s house too), thus rendering the crate nothing more than a useless box taking up space. By the time the alarm sounded in the morning, Nikki would somehow end up curled up on the soft pillow, whereas my upper body and neck would be contorted in every direction except the pillow so as to not disturb her. Furthermore, from the living room green step, Nikki also developed a little game of manipulation in which she would nudge her little blue ball across the kitchen floor and stare at it continuously until one of us threw it for her to fetch. Of course, Nikki would never actually “fetch” the ball and bring it back, but rather she would force you to go to her and get the ball yourself. On top of that, conning my dad into feeding her from the dinner table was one thing. As rumor has it, though, Nikki even faked a hunger strike while we were away on vacation, forcing the Ransoms to feed her grilled chicken straight from their hands. If you gave Nikki an inch, she took a yard (or a mile).

-------In the small suburb of Marlboro over which she quickly came to rule, Nikki would spent the great portion of the day defending our home from under the shade of the large oak tree in the front yard. Most of the time, she would stretch out and nod her head to the people, strollers, cars, and dogs streaming by (except for the big brown dog from around the corner, who had made the mistake of somehow pissing Nikki off and thus forever endured her scorn). With her inquisitive nature, Nikki would also roam around the expansive front and back yards as if she were searching out new lands to conquer. Sure enough, as a little white Shih-Tzu with pink bows in her hair (and holiday-themed bows when appropriate), she often looked out of place to neighbors walking or driving by, some of whom would occasionally pick her up and ring the doorbell to let us know that “our little white dog was wandering outside alone.” Further opposed to that impression of a typical Shih-Tzu, Nikki would other times lie low in the weeds before springing up to snatch an antelope’s neck in her jaws with a surprising quickness and ferocity analogous to that of a jungle lion. My mom’s fellow teachers would make fun of her for leaving school during lunchtime just to drive home and let Nikki out. Like a true Alerhand, all she wanted to do was roam freely in the wild.

-------Whereas most dogs wore a leash as their owners took them around the block, Nikki would not allow herself to suffer such an indignity. At her own pace and no slower or faster than she desired, Nikki would follow along the sidewalk and walk longer distances than most larger dogs in the Parc Chateau neighborhood. This, of course, was when she wanted to walk. In a trend that would continue in Marlboro, LBI, and New York City until her final days, neighbors and passersby loved to remark how it was really Nikki who walked us and not vice versa, as Nikki’s frequent reluctance to budge even an inch would necessitate a family member literally carrying her around the block for a “walk.” Looking back on old photos, I can only imagine the epic stand-offs that took place between her and my Zeide.

-------Furthermore, whether Nikki walked on her own or was carried had no bearing on her post-walk demand for a treat. In fact, I long harbored a sneaking suspicion that when we opened the door for her at night to pee in the front yard, she would assume the peeing position without actually peeing, just to manipulate her way into a small hot dog bite. On a related note, there was also that funny slash embarrassing episode when Mike was working with his SAT tutor near the front dining room, from where they heard my mom giving Nikki the code word to “poop, poop, poop” in the front yard.

-------There on Weathervane Way, Nikki always preferred to have her loving family at home. From her perch in the living room, she would stare out into the streets waiting for the school bus or for my mom’s convertible to make its way up the driveway. My friends on the school bus would always point and wave at Nikki from the bus, telling me that “she’s waiting for you again.” The moment I entered the garage code and walked through the door, Nikki would greet me like a conquering hero arriving home after a long odyssey (and this was years before my ascent into an intramural sports deity). Even when she had been napping on the living room couch, she would hurriedly traverse the narrow ledge like a nimble Ninja cat and then leap down towards the green step where I waited. Nikki would also come visit me every weekend at Peddie several years later, climbing up the steep stairwell all the way to my fourth floor Trask apartment—but not, of course, before making sure to stop in each open room along the way like a gust of wind, in order to test out the couch’s springiness and make my fellow dorm-mates feel loved as well for even just those five seconds.

-------Similarly, when my dad would come home late at night after a long day at work and brutal commute, Nikki never failed to greet him as if he had solved the greatest questions of theoretical physics or presided over a billion-dollar stimulus to the global economy (On second thought, there had been that one hilarious time as a puppy when Nikki had run back scared into her crate when my dad had come home calling her name.). Additionally, Jon himself had never been enthused about adopting a dog, but after all, it was he who impulsively took a stick and destroyed the dogsitter’s mailbox in retaliation for keeping Nikki in her Manalapan garage while she left the house for hours. Tail wagging violently in concert with her dancing torso, with front paws practically lifted off the ground in excitement, Nikki could truly make anyone feel like the only person in the world.

-------There was also that one time when she was very young that Nikki’s love for her family broke our hearts. We had just dropped her off at Munchkin and the Goldsmith’s house before leaving for vacation. As we prepared to drive off in the car, we turned around and glimpsed Nikki escape Ron’s grasp and gallop slowly down the front porch steps. She maintained two strides ahead of Ron as she continued all the way across the front lawn and finally made it to the car where she barked for us to open the door. It was the most heartbreaking thing to have to bring her back inside and take off without her to the airport. The moment we left, we could not wait to see her again.

-------In spite of her totalitarian methods, however, no one would confuse this cute little Shih Tzu for a guard dog. Tucked into her snuggly-arranged smorgasbord of blankets and pillows on a cold winter day, Nikki would do nothing more than pick her head up upon a visitor’s arrival, not give a crap at all, and then put her head right back down again to sleep. Clearly, Nikki never spent a single day of her life worried if the finest foods would be presented to her (unless Zeide kicked her bowl over accidentally), if the warmest blankets would be laid out for her, or if she would be hugged and kissed endlessly throughout the day.

-------Nikki could simultaneously be a worldly and multi-faceted dog, but also a very particular one as well. On the one hand, Nikki’s renowned bilingual skills in understanding both English and Spanish alike impressed many a visitor. Judging by her Jewish faith and love for matzoh ball soup, it is possible she also understood Hebrew as well. Ever the little explorer, Nikki would sometimes come with me to visit friends, and as she did at the Riess’ house, immediately set out on a path to explore every single inch of their house—whether they wanted her to or not. On the other hand, when Nikki decided that it was time to go to sleep, she would bark at my mom at the foot of the stairs so that she would follow. If Nikki had to wait too long, she would simply climb the stairs herself and bark at my mom from there until someone came upstairs to tuck her in.

-------Of course, it was Nikki who understood me better than anyone else. On those nights that I stayed up late completing college applications, perhaps more stressed than I myself realized, Nikki would stay with me downstairs to keep me company. She also had a particular preference for sitting in the front driver’s seat of my mom’s convertible. Years later, my mother’s friend would comment on the seemingly unusual sight of Nikki standing upright in my mom’s lap, front paws atop the side door window, staring out at the people and places around her as if it was just the most natural thing in the world.

-------The only thing that Nikki truly hated (besides perhaps that asshole brown dog) was a thunder and lightning storm. She could sense them coming before anybody else, and the reverberations within the house would send her shivering down to the basement. At least when her friend Jagger stayed with us or vice versa, the two of them had each other to rely on during these difficult moments. Other than that, Nikki’s continuously happy existence was interrupted only by those sad occasions when the suitcases came out from the basement closet, a signal she very quickly picked up on as an indicator of her family’s coming departure to Mexico City. Nikki would sit down and stare at us packing clothing with the saddest face you could imagine. Nothing was worse than missing her family while they were away. In fact, I remember once coming home during a vacation from Brown to sadly realize that Nikki now had one less person around to throw her the blue ball, and I threatened to drop out of college unless someone else picked up the slack.

-------As my brothers and I grew older, Nikki was there for us every step of the way. She would cheer for us from the sidelines of countless soccer games, and when she thought an opponent gave a cheap kick to the shins, she had no qualms about jumping onto the field for a quick slide tackle to show that player what was what. Along with being there for all three of our bar mitzvahs, Nikki also supported us while we graduated from Dugan Elementary, Marlboro Middle School, Temple Rodeph Torah, college (Lafayette, Brown, Virginia), and medical school (Boston). Nikki was even there for my parents when they were officially sworn in as United Stated citizens. We were all a family, and Nikki loved to be there for her family’s accomplishments and major occasions.

-------Nikki’s fame around Marlboro, Peddie, and LBI had essentially catapulted her to celebrity status. People were easily won over by her irresistible charisma, singular cuteness, and outsized personality. Even in death, Nikki’s legacy carried on not just with her own family but with others’ as well. On one hand, every person who had ever cared for Nikki while we were away or walked her when we were not home was saddened to hear of Nikki’s passing. In addition, several other families had once adopted Shih Tzu’s of their own directly because of Nikki, and these families smiled at the memories of their own pets upon hearing of the trailblazing Nikki’s passing. These consisted of Nacho of our relatives in Mexico City, Munchkin of the Goldsmiths, Mittsy of the Rosenbergs, Skyler of the Levines, and of course Jagger of the Rafaloffs. By the time Nikki had passed, all of them (plus Jake from next door in LBI) were waiting eagerly for Nikki to join them in doggy heaven (likely as their boss, as a friend astutely pointed out).

-------More than anywhere else, however, Nikki’s spirit will always be felt in Long Beach Island long after she is gone. Like the human being she thought she was, Nikki loved feeling the wind blowing in her face, as well as the warm sand beneath her paws. On those walks to the beach, she would dig and dig until reaching the soft and cool sand in which she would nuzzle while watching the waves slowly come in, and then recede back out again. Nikki also cherished being taken to the nearby Harvey Cedars Park, where she could walk along the cool grass and make her way to the isolated promontory with tall green weeds and soft salty algae, staring out at the calm bay and laying down in the shallowest end to cool off on the hottest days. Furthermore, her spectacular naps on the soft white carpet were epic, rivaled only by those enjoyed sunning herself on the heat-trapping wooden deck or on the comfortable reclining lounge chairs while my mom read books alongside her. In her last summer in LBI, once her hearing and sight had mostly gone, Nikki also developed an endearing manner by which she would emerge from her coma-like slumbers in my parents’ room. Essentially, after escaping from the world for these 2-3 hours of naptime, Nikki would walk out of the room practically jumping with joy and with chin held high in the air, seemingly bragging about some unknown accomplishment for which she demanded adulation (or a piece of Neptune’s cheesesteak).

-------Most of all, Nikki loved LBI because it was there where she could be with her family the most. From accompanying my parents on long morning walks along the Boulevard to the nearest coffee shop, to cheering my brothers and me on during our annual 5-Mile Dog Day Race, to braving the occasional boat ride to watch me wakeboard, Nikki truly lived a life in LBI that even most people could barely imagine. Fittingly, she had been born in the same year that my family acquired the beach house on Warwick Avenue, and in a way, the house and the deck and the nighttime ocean waves to which we rocked ourselves to sleep each night belonged to her above anyone else.

-------As the years went on, and her hearing and eyesight slowly deteriorated, Nikki started to age gracefully. Starting in the snowy hilltops of Tibet, then to the lush green suburbs of Marlboro, it was on the grandest stage of New York City that Nikki chose to live out her retirement years. Ironically, after a lifetime of celebrity status, Nikki had actually gone there to live a life of peace—one with frequent walks unrecognized amidst the bourgeoisie of Central Park, comfortable naps in the warm cozy 14th floor Upper West Side apartment, and gourmet meals waiting on every block.

-------As it turns out, I could barely walk Nikki around the Great Lawn of Central Park without little children and their parents greeting Nikki by her name. People I had never even met before would literally kneel down to stroke her hair and ask me how she was doing. Though she always tried to carve out time for the children, it would be impossible for Nikki to greet, sign autographs, and smell the butt of every person, dog, and paparazzi that walked by. This would often manifest with Nikki briskly walking by another star-stricken dog with barely a head turn or acknowledgement, akin to a famous rock star brushing by a throng of worshipping fans. I knew that Nikki cared, though, because after Jagger’s passing she had wondered aloud whether he had truly understood how much she appreciated his friendship, in spite of all the times she ignored him or made him fetch her ball.

-------The doormen of the building, furthermore, would express their amazement at how such a small dog at her advanced age would go outside for effortless long walks as if she were a young robust greyhound. Truth be told, however, Nikki’s stubborn refusal to walk unless desired had developed more as a tool in her expansive arsenal in the big city, as passersby would repeatedly fall for her tricks and ask how we could force such a cute little old dog to walk against her will. This encounter would unfailingly end with us carrying Nikki in our arms for the duration of the “walk”, with she no doubt smiling off the latest victory. More naturally than her family, it seems, Nikki had accepted both the responsibilities and realities that went along with fame and global adulation.

-------When she was younger, Nikki would do seemingly simple things all the time that would just astound us with her intelligence. Whenever she would bark or fixate her attention on any specific object or location, we grew to understand that there must be a reason and that none of her seemingly arbitrary actions could ever be brushed off as a coincidence. For instance, she might bark and bark at the couch cushion for minutes on end, and upon lifting it up for her, I would find a leftover steak bone or blue bouncy ball she had probably hidden there days earlier. Nikki’s capacity for problem-solving and critical thinking was remarkable, and friends would oftentimes remark that she behaved and had an understanding akin to a human being (this was especially noted in the way my mom and I would greet and speak to her like a little girl).

-------As Nikki grew older, these individual moments became less frequent but were nonetheless still there, always capable of amazing us with one thing or another until her very last days. Truth be told, Nikki recognized that she could no longer be the daring explorer of her youth, so she devoted more of her time to leisurely relaxation in the park, similar to how she had once enjoyed in the front yard of Weathervane Way. Paying less attention to the trivial things and plunging her mind more deeply into philosophy, Nikki would spend hours together with me sitting in the park. Thankfully, my budding medical career had brought me to New York City for my emergency medicine residency, and I will always be thankful for these last one and a half years we spent together. If a genie were to grant me one free day to do anything anywhere I wanted, I would choose to spend that day with Nikki in the park.

-------Nikki’s last year of life had its occasional difficult moments and stark reminders, but she had accepted the laws of father time and sought to enjoy every one of her final days with the family she loved so much. Neither able to see nor hear by this point, Nikki took comfort in the familiar smells of her family’s clothing upon which she would sleep in the living room. Whereas she used to take great measures to arrange pillows and blankets in just the manner that she wanted, now she would gently flip the corners of the carpet backwards into a soft resting pillow for her head. She began to pee on the wet sheets placed in the kitchen, and this was okay. The harsh winter and difficulty holding her urine meant that walking Nikki outside was no longer as much of a necessity. In fact, she seemed perfectly comfortable remaining indoors. Moreover, she would wander around the apartment and bark every single night until she either peed or was fed. Nevertheless, Nikki found a source of comfort in simply being held by members of her family. Once you had earned her love, she could truly make you feel like a million dollars.

-------Things took a turn over her last two weeks as Nikki would neither eat, drink, pee, nor poop as she normally would. Predictably, she lost weight, strength, and energy—though she was never in pain. By the week leading up to January 22nd, Nikki herself knew it was the end. She kept wandering off into areas of the apartment where she usually never approached, seeming as if she wanted to go off all alone to take one last deep long slumber (this is what doggie books had predicted too). Of course, I did not want her to feel alone for a moment, and on that Thursday, I called in sick from my job as an emergency medicine physician. On January 22nd at 9 pm, Nikki passed away comfortably, gracefully, and peacefully in my mom’s arms with all the family around her, wrapped in the small blue blanket given to her as a puppy and with which she would be cremated together for all time.

-------These were the saddest moments of my life, and that night, I dragged a small mattress near the front door so that I could sleep where Nikki had slept toward the end. Through the mourning, we all knew in our hearts that Nikki had truly lived and lived well, with a lifetime of fond memories and not a single regret.

-------As the news spread, we were inundated by emails, fan mail, and phone calls of condolences by friends, family, canines, and foreign dignitaries alike. Flags in nations around the world were lowered to half-mast to honor the memory of Nikki Alerhand. Families everywhere will name their pets (and probably children) after her, and songs will be written about her for generations. Though with our hearts burdened with grief and longing, it filled us with warmth to know that Nikki had touched the lives of millions around the globe just as she had become a part of ours.

-------I cannot envision a scenario by which I do not think about Nikki with a fond smile every single day for the rest of my life. In my version of heaven, I take her to the green grass in the park every single sunny afternoon. Not too long from now, the summer months will come right around the corner again, at which point the Alerhand family will use the cremated ashes of our loving dog to plant a tree in the house in LBI. I think she would have liked this. The truth is, when we first met Nikki almost 17 years ago, I knew right away that I would do everything I could to make sure she lived a great life. As I now realize all these years later, Nikki our beloved dog had been thinking the exact same thing about us.

Nikki Alerhand

4/4/1998 - 1/22/2015