Our Sweet Little Debutante

Ever since Bruiser's departure, Duncan has spent a lot of time parked at the back door, staring through the glass at us.

All day long.

Even after I've just taken him for a 3 mile run and fed him breakfast, he'll still just sit there with those dreadfully pleading eyes, his ears perking and head tilting at our every movement.

The poor, manipulative darling is lonely.

It's funny to me that he didn't do this when Bruiser was alive. You'd think his loneliness would have been a factor for years because, frankly,  they never really liked each other that much. I mean, they didn't actually fight. They just sort of...coexisted.

Duncan tried often to engage the old "cur"mudgeon in play, but Bruiser would rather just be left alone, thank you very much. And he clearly resented the little bossy upstart of a puppy's obvious bid at Alphaism, even though he never really exerted any claims of his own.

Anyway, now that his crabby elder is gone, Duncan needs a friend.

(Surely when I hinted a few posts ago that we were considering getting another dog from the shelter, you must have known that the end was nigh for our one-doggedness.)

I figured that during our weekly volunteer time at the shelter, Delaney and I would keep an eye on the dogs that seemed like a possible good fit for our family and (perhaps more importantly) a good fit for this guy:

I knew the qualities I was looking for:

a) It would have to let Duncan be the Alpha (or our backyard would not be a pleasant place) but we wouldn't want it to be too timid either.

b) It couldn't be too small or fragile since it would be an outdoor/garage kind of a pet.

c) We didn't want it to be overly furry because we all have better things to do than sweep up dog hair.

d) It couldn't bark at every gust of wind or bird.

e) It needed to be athletic enough to keep up with Duncan on walks.

f) It needed to be trainable.

And of course it would be nice if:

g) It was soft and sweet.

Keeping all these things in mind, I took note of the available dogs and waited to see if anyone else would swoop in and adopt them. If they did, then great because my main desire is that the homeless doggies get a family.

If they didn't get adopted, then we'd look at them a little closer...

Well, since October, there has been a sweet little girl that fits all of my discerning criteria and as of two weeks ago no one had shown interest in adopting her. It's kind of hard for me to believe considering some of the other dogs that have been flying off the shelves.

She is so precious. She has natural "Cleopatra eyeliner" and very soft fur. She's compliant yet playful. Surprisingly, she has a very low, resonant bark, making Duncan sound like Mike Tyson.

Two Wednesdays ago, we took Duncan down to the shelter to meet her, wondering if they'd get along or not. At first it was as awkward as any blind date is likely to be. She was a bit shy and he was somewhat tense, but within five minutes they seemed at ease in each others' presence. They ran around the play yard and seemed happy enough. Duncan was definitely the dominant one and she seemed fine with that.

One weird thing was that Duncan began drooling profusely and, by the way, it was not normal drool. This stuff was foamy and thick. None of us had ever noticed him doing that before in the two and a half years we've had him, but get him in the presence of a pretty girl and strange things start happening.

Once she passed the vital test of getting along with Duncan, I felt pretty good about bringing her home. The next day, Delaney took some treats and a dog clicker to see how trainable she was. One diced hot dog and several clicks later, she was sitting on command and started lifting her paw when told, "shake". Better and better.

With Jeff's blessing, I signed the papers last week. The shelter held on to her for a few more days in order to spay her.

Yesterday, we brought her home :)

She and Duncan hadn't seen each other since that one time at the shelter. It was so sweet to see her pad right up to him and lick his nose. And yes, he started drooling again.

Last night as I was looking over her papers at the kitchen table, I noticed that her breed had been guessed at as a Labrador/Golden Retriever/Great Dane mix.

Great Dane! I laughed outloud and told Tobias who was nearby.

"Yeah," he said, "but it only shows up in her bark."

*Heh heh heh*

So now, that brings us to the amusing quandary of choosing a name.

While naming a pet, you don't have to be careful and considerate like you do while naming a kid. Feel free to saddle that animal with whatever oddity strikes your fancy because whether you choose "Gladys", "Pepper" or "Emperor Zurg", there won't be any therapy bills. (Unless you're one of those people who visits pet psychics and doses their pooch with Xanex, which I am most definitely NOT.)


My first idea was "Poppy" because a) it's cute b) poppies are one of my favorite flowers and c) she's almost the color of the California state flower.

Jeff would have none of it.

He also nixed my next few ideas: Hattie, Dora or Molly. He said they were all too girly. I reminded him that the dog is female, after all.

He had a suggestion of his own. Since before we were married, he has wanted to get a dog and name it...

"Dog".

Yes, you read that right. (I was glad that when Tobias was born, Jeff didn't suggest that we christen him "Boy".)

I pointed out to him, that in addition to being very dull, his name of choice wasn't technically appropriate since male canines are "dogs" and females are actually called...

...never mind.

So, I went to the internet to search for names that weren't too girly and that hopefully described her in at least some regard.

I wanted the name to pop audibly so that when she heard it, it wouldn't easily mesh with all the other jumbled words falling out of our mouths. (For example, "Sarah" is an audibly subtle name whereas "Bridget" is not.) I mean, it'd be nice if she could discern something as important as her name. See what I mean? ------->



Hmmm...think, think, think.

"Dulcie" means sweet. "Nati" is humble.

No and no.


"Rowan" got me all excited because, meaning "little red one", it describes her perfectly. However...I don't really care for the sound of it.

 "Pyrrha" (Greek for "red") is kind of cool and definitely unique, but it just didn't seem to fit her. "Rorie" means "red" as well, but it's kind of hard to say.


I really loved "Tilda" but Tobias said he would refuse to call her that because he disliked it so much.


Finally, we found something that three of us could appreciate. (Jeff had pretty much given up at that point.)


Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present to you our very own...


dear...

sweet...






                                        Elka

Kisses:



Here's a shot of her "eyeliner":






Welcome to the family, sweet girl!