Dog names: A cautionary tale - South Bay Pets

Dog names: A cautionary tale

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By Donna Littlejohn on June 19, 2009 2:12 PM | | Comments (0) |

Since I posted earlier today about the 10 wackiest dog and cat names released by the folks at the Veterinary Insurance group, I figured I should follow up with a bit of a warning.

Read any "How to name your dog" book or article, and they'll tell you to pick a name you can -- without embarrassment -- call out loud in a crowd.

This rule was broken by Rollin Keller's Aunt Jean. Rollin is a former pastor of mine who spins rollin keller.jpg family tales on his new blog called Old Guys Rule. I posted an earlier story of his last month about the cat that ate the wedding cake. (He's got several other animal related posts up, as well.)

But when it comes to naming your dog, My Aunt's Dog really is one you should read -- and remember:

 

My Aunt's Dog

My dad's brother, Fred, was always known as "Speed." I have no idea why he was given that nickname, especially since he was the slowest one of the brothers. I had an uncle who raced Indianapolis type cars. I had an uncle who raced motorcycles on flat track. After he was run over by most of the pack behind him, he turned to motorcycle hill climbing, another fascinating sport.
 
My uncle Harry was not a racer of any kind, but he was the youngest in the family, and maybe the others wielded some influence in preventing his engaging in such dangerous things. Instead he lied about his age to join the navy, and was in the South Pacific somewhere when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. I guess he chose a different danger.

Anyway this is a story about uncle Speed. He told me that I should tell people that he was my "uncle Pud, my drinking uncle."
 
I never remember him being sloppy drunk, but he liked to think he could hold more than most men who are still standing. I remember Aunt Jean in a condition incapable of pronouncing her words clearly.
 
So when they got a pair of yappy lap dogs it was inevitable that they named them "Whisky" and "Soda."  By and by Soda met her demise, and only Whisky was left. Well, my Aunt Jean told me this story about herself.
 
One Sunday morning she walked down to the local liquor store to get the Sunday edition of the paper. She took the dog with her, of course. But she had mistakenly gone on this errand a little earlier than the opening of the booze emporium. When she arrived at the door of the establishment, several other people had come early too.
 
Soon the proprietor arrived with the key, and opened the door. Dogs can be impetuous, you know, and so as soon as the door was open just a little, the dog raced into the store like a bullet.
 
My aunt Jean, instinctively called out his name, "Whisky!" she yelled. To which the store manager replied, "Now there's a thirsty woman!"

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This page contains a single entry by Donna Littlejohn published on June 19, 2009 2:12 PM.

Pet adoption Saturday was the previous entry in this blog.

Peter Zippi cats need your help is the next entry in this blog.

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About the Bloggers

Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.

E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.

Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.

E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.

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