Neptune is the perfect name for a fish-catching, swimming, diving dog.
It was the name the red fox-colored Labrador retriever came with when he arrived from Great Britain, and his new owners knew it was too impeccable to change.
As Neptune grew up on the West Indies island of Nevis, he became like the god of the sea and the swimming pool, too. Meredith and Tim Hoffman and their three children, who now live in Cape Coral, lived on Nevis when the pup joined their family. They say it was easier to get their new puppy from England than from the United States.
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Srijita Chattopadhyay
Meredith Hoffman adopted Neptune, the Fox Red Labrador about five years back from England. Hoffman still remembers the day she met Neptune and knew that he was the one she wanted to adopt. "He loves water and he is laid back, which fits our family," Hoffman said. Five years later, Neptune and Meredith are inseparable. "I hate leaving him home," Hoffman said as she looked over Neptune dozing off under her work desk.
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Srijita Chattopadhyay
Meredith Hoffman adopted Neptune, the Fox Red Labrador about five years back from England. Hoffman still remembers the day she met Neptune and knew that he was the one she wanted to adopt. "He loves water and he is laid back, which fits our family," Hoffman said. Five years later, Neptune and Meredith are inseparable. "I hate leaving him home," Hoffman said as she looked over Neptune dozing off under her work desk.
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Srijita Chattopadhyay
Meredith Hoffman adopted Neptune, the Fox Red Labrador about five years back from England. Hoffman still remembers the day she met Neptune and knew that he was the one she wanted to adopt. "He loves water and he is laid back, which fits our family," Hoffman said. Five years later, Neptune and Meredith are inseparable. "I hate leaving him home," Hoffman said as she looked over Neptune dozing off under her work desk.
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Srijita Chattopadhyay
Meredith Hoffman adopted Neptune, the Fox Red Labrador about five years back from England. Hoffman still remembers the day she met Neptune and knew that he was the one she wanted to adopt. "He loves water and he is laid back, which fits our family," Hoffman said. Five years later, Neptune and Meredith are inseparable. "I hate leaving him home," Hoffman said as she looked over Neptune dozing off under her work desk.
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Srijita Chattopadhyay
Meredith Hoffman adopted Neptune, the Fox Red Labrador about five years back from England. Hoffman still remembers the day she met Neptune and knew that he was the one she wanted to adopt. "He loves water and he is laid back, which fits our family," Hoffman said. Five years later, Neptune and Meredith are inseparable. "I hate leaving him home," Hoffman said as she looked over Neptune dozing off under her work desk.
“It is a lot easier to bring in dogs, because England is a rabies-free country, and Nevis is a rabies-free country,” Meredith explains.
When he was 8 weeks old, Neptune was put in a dog crate and flown across the Atlantic to the West Indies. It is where Neptune grew up swimming, diving for fish and enjoying life in a hotel.
“It is the name he came with,” Meredith says. “We thought, ‘Oh, we can change it,’ but we really like it, and we like the water and he likes the water.”
The Hoffmans owned a hotel on the island, and Neptune was a fixture there.
“He would go to the hotel and, oops, accidentally jump in the pool, which he was not allowed to do,” Meredith says. “It was confusing for a puppy; you could go in this water, but not in this water, so he would accidentally go into that pool. Fortunately, our guests loved it.”
In the laid-back island atmosphere, Neptune learned to warm the hearts of hotel guests.
“Just like all dogs, he would wander around, hope that somebody would drop a scrap of bacon,” Meredith says. “Some of the guests would take him for walks. It was almost like rent-a-dog.”
“People would say, ‘I miss my dog so much, can I take your dog for a while,’” Tim adds.
Neptune also found other places to adhere to his love of swimming.
“In Nevis, he would walk to the botanical gardens and go swimming in the pond,” Meredith says. “Neptune was a fitting name. We are pleased that we kept it.”
In 2014 the Hoffmans moved to Cape Coral to provide a better education for their children. Neptune continued to go to work with the family. This time at Fathoms Restaurant & Bar at Cape Harbour.
There’s no swimming at work now. Instead Neptune lies in a dog bed in the upstairs office or lounges under the table or on the floor. Wherever his owners are in the office, that’s where you will find Neptune.
But when work is done, he is back to being a water dog. He loves going on the boat with the family, swimming in the pool at home and going to the beach.
“He is the only dog we have ever had that will dive underwater,” Tim says. “He can catch fish in the water. When I am fishing, he will take fish out of a bucket and eat them. When you are casting for fish and you have a bucket of bait, he is sticking his face in the bait bucket getting the fish.”
Neptune also dives to the bottom of the swimming pool to pick up sticks and other items.
“He is always in the water looking for stuff,” Tim says.
“He is more interested in what is in the water than people on the shore,” Meredith adds. “I have seen him catch a fish. He eats it.”
“We usually take him on the boat, and he loves it,” Meredith says. “He absolutely hates it when we leave him. We left him yesterday to go to South Seas, and you should have seen his face when he saw he was not coming with us.”
The quirky lab also enjoys playing fetch and running around with the Hoffmans’ 14-year-old son and twin 12-year-old daughters.
Neptune is 5 years old now, and a calmer fish-eating, swim-loving dog. He’s also learned to worm his way into living the cushy life.
Tim says they don’t allow dogs on the sofa or beds, but Neptune made his own rules.
“He sleeps with the kids,” Tim says. “Most of the time on the bed, on a pillow, under the covers, and he has three quarters of the bed.”
Neptune is such a loved pet that the Hoffmans commissioned his portrait painted by Gretchen Kish Serrrano. It now hangs in the family den.
“You buy art because it means something to you and it evokes emotions,” Tim says. “We had a big anniversary, and we thought we love the dog, we love Gretchen and her style, so it seemed to be a logical thing.”
In the drip-style painting, Neptune is wearing a collar with the British flag design. It’s a collar he usually wears to show off his roots.
“It is kind of different that he is from England,” Meredith says.
Yet the dog that was named after the god of the sea is much more at home in the water, and the workplace and home of the Hoffmans, than his native England.