Friday, October 28, 2005

Got me a new bitch

Listening to: Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio (Angel #67361, Otto Klemperer conducting)

The last few days you've heard nary a whisper from these parts though not due to the old (oh, so old) excuse that I'm weeping into my Wheaties over dreams dashed and discarded. No, my friends, I've moved on and I'm adjusting to a new love - yes, I do recover quickly - a girl who is sharing not only my bed but my tiny apartment as well as the hearts of my children. She is young (oh, very young) and can be very annoying at times but her capacity for love and affection far outweighs her character defects; anyway, she's young enough to be teachable.

Sure, she's a mutt but that only adds to her charm and since she's very good with the wee ones - loving, gentle, playful, affectionate - I am forced to keep her. Just out of a bad relationship ("catch em' on the rebound" is never a good strategy but sometimes you take what comes your way) but had I not intervened, her fate might have been much worse and who knows where she would have ended up? Yes, tell me I'm too much of a softie, I don't care, she's here with me and I love her.

Now, as I mention that she's had all her shots and her tubes are tied, most of you are clicking away from me, for good reason. For those of you (and you two or three know who you are) who are still with me, she's a collie/german shepard mix (mostly shepard looking) and she really is a sweetie, very mellow but I need to train her.

Since she's my first dog, I'm calling on my handful of readers who own dogs to enlighten me on some of the finer points of dog training. I took her for a nice long walk this morning and all she did was sniff everything. We went a half mile and she had to stop and smell every - EVERY - spot where a dog had left it's mark. Forty-five minutes to go a half mile and she didn't do her business. No, she waited until we got back here to get that done. Right in front of me. WTF is up with that?

Help me out with that and this: the previous owner named my dog "Robin". Yuck. A friend told me that the dog is young enough to get used to another name (and told me that two syllables for the name is optimal), that I should have no problem getting her to respond to commands with a new name. So contest time: whomever comes up with the coolest name for my doggy will get a copy of my 2-disk Holiday Mixmania! set for your incredible creativity. Multiple entries are allowed, if you repeat someone else's suggestion, the person who suggested it first wins out.

I'll keep the link on my sidebar, so get to naming my dog!

22 comments:

landismom said...

Can't help you with the training tips--we're cat people over here.

How about 'Olga' for the German in her?

Anonymous said...

I am laughing so hard. You are one of the dearest masochists I know. This is just precisely what you need right now. :-) But she sounds like a smart sort of mix so I bet she will learn fast. I bet she's very pretty. I'll consider names while I sleep tonight- maybe it will come to me in a dream.
Enjoy your bitch.

Anonymous said...

I am laughing so hard. You are one of the dearest masochists I know. This is just precisely what you need right now. :-) But she sounds like a smart sort of mix so I bet she will learn fast. I bet she's very pretty. I'll consider names while I sleep tonight- maybe it will come to me in a dream.
Enjoy your bitch.

Anonymous said...

oops, sorry. I'm addicted to all those consonant-free little widget words...

Anonymous said...

Oh, Jim. That's easy. She practically told you her name when she walked in!

Rebound. ;)

Busy Mom said...

Her name is Scout.

Mamacita (The REAL one) said...

"Proxy"

You sweet lovely man.

(No reason. I just wanted to say that.)

Anonymous said...

collies= one of the smartest dogs
german shepards= good dogs but can go ballistic, it depends on their personality

and How old is she? my sister is dog trainer extraordinaire so I can ask her some tips

Anonymous said...

Oh, a name contest is nothing without pics! Let's see the puppy!

Lost said...

What about Deogie? As in D O G.

Anne Coleman said...

Pics-we need pics!

ok well, I'm not really sure that a female dog is any less demanding that a female human but, good luck :)

At least she can't talk back? I dunno-what other cliched and dumb thing can I say...when I come up with it I'll let you know.

As for a name-see above.

Babette said...

Fidelio is a wonderful name for an opera and a dog!

Stacy Janice Elton said...

Ooo~
A Daddy Dearest!
*Hugs*
^_^
*flounce off*

paula said...

OOH!

I vote for human names for pets... they are such a huge part of the family anyway, why not give them the humanity they obviously earn?

How about Tonya (A good strong name for a female dog)

mg

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... I've still got nuthin. So far I like busy mom's suggestion of Scout the best.

I still can't believe this.

I mean, *I* don't have fleas, would never chew up your shoes and would only wear a collar if you asked me to. *I* use the toilet (most of the time) and *I* don't stink after coming in after the rain.

I'm just sayin.

Natsthename said...

My name...

Blog Spot. thankyouverymuch

The Rainbow Zebra said...

I need to see a picture first ;)

Congrats on the dog!!

Or hey, you could name your dog whatever Blogger throws out for word verification....mine is "nshunok".

Anonymous said...

Juanita is a great name.

Anonymous said...

My dog is named Vodka ao I suggest that you think about what you want to be calling her at the top of your lungs at the dog park. Maybe Beer or Rummy. Or double barreled like Gin Rummy.

Anonymous said...

Pooka...the more mischievous of the Sidhe. And if I know anything about puppies, it will fit.

Anonymous said...

Shiloh?

When yelled, it carries over long distances to call the dog/kids back in.

Anonymous said...

Naming the poor dog after another, in my opinion, inferior, animal is sooo tacky. Therefore, you should name the dog Rat.
Or, off the top of my head, Madam Tao. it has a ring to it.