Starbucks Rolls Over For Hip Pup

She’s a yuppie puppy, a latte-lapping hound living a dog’s life at a Starbucks in north Spokane.

Meet Java Julie. The chocolate-colored German shorthaired pointer holds court for hours every day outside the gourmet coffeehouse with her retired master, C.J. Woolson.

The pair have become such friendly fixtures that the store gives Julie dog biscuits and all the free fresh brew she can slurp out of a special silver cup.

It makes sense for the company that started the espresso frenzy to take on the animal kingdom, too. Starbucks has expanded into Europe. The last company report showed sales were up 7 percent.

But even in the coffee-crazed Northwest a caffeinated canine seems, well, over the edge.

She’s our “ambassador of good will,” says Betty Walker, who manages the Starbucks in the upscale Wandermere Mall at 12408 N. Division. “It’s wonderful. The customers love her.”

Well, not every customer.

Several weeks ago, Julie caused one woman to become hotter than a fresh cuppa Joe. The dog never ventures inside the store, which would violate the health code.

Even so, the woman told Starbucks workers she didn’t appreciate a pooch being parked in an outside chair that is also used by the two-legged patrons.

“There are a few in this world who flat don’t like dogs,” observes Walker. “They need to get a life.”

When the woman’s complaint went nowhere, she turned the store in to the health department. Julie was about to be given the bowser’s rush when some other customers heard what was going on.

Infuriated, they stormed a nearby department store and bought a plastic chair and a cloth seat cushion. With a permanent marker, the words “Sole property of Julie” were scrawled across the top of the chair in black.

The word “sole” is underlined three times.

“You can tell it was written in anger,” says an amused Woolson, a stocky 55-year-old whose close-cropped white beard gives him an eerie resemblance to country crooner Kenny Rogers. To keep Starbucks out of the doghouse, Woolson is in charge of Julie’s chair, which is stored near the bathroom when the pair aren’t there.

Julie and her master discovered the Wandermere coffeehouse last summer and have been regulars ever since. The purebred dog turned up her nose when Woolson offered Julie her first taste of black coffee.

He added some honey and a splash of half-and-half, which is the way Woolson likes it, and the dog was hooked like the rest of us coffee-holics.

It might not be advisable to give caffeine to one of those high-strung, yapping mutts like a terrier or a poodle. Julie, however, is pretty laid back. She shows no ill effects from her coffee habit, often snoozing after a cup.

A hip dog, she digs icy Frappucinos as well.

The 6-year-old bird dog is a lovable attraction.

Customers rub Julie’s ears and give her pieces of their cookies and scones. “How can you say no when she gives you a look with those brown eyes?” says Woolson.

Julie’s master is folksier than a Wal-Mart greeter. Unmarried, he says he invested wisely and retired seven years ago when he realized time was the thing he valued most.

He spends a lot of that time these days at Starbucks, reading literature and getting to know customers like Foster Chase.

“Every time we come here,” says Chase, “my 2-year-old daughter, Kylee, starts yelling, ‘Mocha! Julie! Mocha! Julie!”’

Music to Betty Walker’s ears.

“Starbucks hasn’t gone to the dogs,” assures the manager, “but this is good for all of us.”