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Happy Monday!
I recently ordered a new dog licence and name tag for Guapo, after he lost his collar somewhere at the dog park.
When the tiny metal pendant arrived from Amazon, I looked closely at the etched cursive letters that spelled out the oft-mispronounced Spanish adjective and got to thinking about the emails that landed in my inbox after I used this space to discuss pets’ names a couple of weeks ago. Dozens of pet lovers, including my former neighbour Edie Parisian, sent me heartwarming notes describing what inspired them to choose the names they did.
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In Edie’s case, her newly adopted yellow Labrador puppy was meant to keep her older, sweet dog golden retriever company. Instead, the “crazy rescue” used Ginger as a play toy, wrestling and mauling her endlessly.
“We were going to call this cute little yellow lab cross Marley, after the dog in the movie, but thought that might jinx her and bring us a lot of grief,” Edie wrote.
Instead, she and her husband Mac and their two children, Jennifer and Matt, named the pooch Molly, but spelled it M-a-u-l-e-y.
“It has suited her personality and always brings a smile to my face when we call her Maul or Maulster,” Edie wrote.
Years later, after gentle Ginger crossed the rainbow bridge, the Parisians adopted a mid-sized pooch with a gorgeous coat and fluffy tail.
“When she walks, it looks somewhat like a skunk’s tail,” wrote Edie. “We thought we might call her Pepe after the skunk on Bugs Bunny, but since she’s a girl, we went with Pippa, after Kate Middleton’s sister.”
Edie says their little Pip squeak is the perfect addition to their family — longtime friends I miss very much.
Jen Parisian, Pauley and Pippa
On the same day, Carol Nikkel emailed pictures of her pets including, Dobby, a dog named after the house-elf in the Harry Potter series, and Mr. Weasley, a cat named after a pure-blood Harry Potter wizard.
Dobby
Mr. Weasley
Elizabeth Hunt’s “big ol’ mutt,” a foster-fail from Peguis First Nation, arrived with a name she wasn’t terribly keen on.
When she complained about the unlikable moniker, her six-year-old grandson had an easy solution.
“But Granny,” he said. “He’s a big red dog. He has to be Clifford.”
Brian McKenty and his wife brainstormed for days after they brought home their new Golden doodle puppy nearly seven weeks ago.
“Then one day, my wife got home from work, saw her new puppy running toward her, and said: ‘How’s my little peanut?’ ” he wrote.
The name stuck and Peanut, according to Brian, is doing great.
Peanut
And then there’s LUCA.
The handsome blond terrier cross was discovered seven years ago starving in Assiniboine Forest. He weighed only 11 pounds before being adopted by Winnipegger Bonnie Dickie, a fervent animal lover who gave the pooch an acronym for a name.
“The capital letters are intentional,” Bonnie wrote, explaining that she was inspired after a friend attended an environmental/sustainability course in Ireland.
Bonnie says the course instructor described the first living cell from which all life on earth is derived as our Last Universal Common Ancestor, or LUCA for short.
“Since my pet has evolved from that first magnificent cell, and we humans likewise, it seemed the absolutely perfect name,” she says. “And a reminder that we are in fact, connected to every living thing. I am LUCA and LUCA is me!”
LUCA
Retiree Judy Baker also emailed to talk about the jaunty names she and her husband of 55-plus years have given their plethora of pets.
First, there was a trio of three-pronged, creative cat names that included Bunny Boots Baker, Somewhat Silver Jackson and Thomas the Phantom Cat. The couple’s dogs, on the other hand, were saddled with simpler but no less fanciful names such as Penny, Duchess, Bonnie and Andy.
Finally, their current rescue, a sweet Jack Russel mix named, applicably, Pixel, happens to be the first small dog they’ve ever had.
“He’s a real lapdog,” she wrote. “Perfect for us seniors.”
Pixel
Lastly, Janice Croft, a North Kildonan neighbour of mine, named her Beagle after her brother, Dougie.
“He gets called Douglas when he is a bad boy, but that doesn’t happen often as he is the best boy in the world to me,” she wrote.
Dougie and Shadow
Have a great week, everyone! And, since we’re in the middle of the spooky month, why not send me some Halloween pet pics so I can share them here!
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