Dogs and names

The kids and I were reminiscing about our dogs that day. When Rusty first arrived, he was tiny as a kitten and we almost named him Felix (the Cat). Luckily we settled on Rusty because of his rusty patches, also because he's a Jack Russell Terrier.

Strangely, when I bring Rusty out for his walks, many people call him "Milo" (from the film Mask). It's funny because the movie was released some 20 years ago. YK used to watch it over and over again when he was still crawling on all fours. Milo is quite an unforgettable character! He's nothing like the other Milo I know - Petunia's hunky dog who is more of a Scooby-Doo look-alike.

Scooby is a nice name but one of our favourites is Spooky, my brother's mixed bred which died five years ago. There's nothing spooky about Spooky at all. He was very intelligent and such a good looker, one of the best dogs we've ever had.

I admit we're not the most creative when it comes to naming our dogs. After we had Rusty, we named the stray mongrel that came to live with us at the farm Jack. Then another black and white one came and we called him Russell. Just when we thought we had enough, along came one with a beautiful coat of chocolate fur. He was such a sweetie, the name Cookie sprung to my mind. Sadly, all these farm dogs have gone to Dog heaven. Now we've got Harry (cos he's so furry) and Bodhi (my friend named him).

Harry and Bodhi.

We're not the only unimaginative ones it seems. My cousin was lamenting about the names of their dogs. Their late miniature pinscher was named Skinny. If you know what a pinscher looks like, you'll go 'duh!'. Then there's stray who is lucky enough to be adopted by them. Naturally she's named Lucky. When Lucky gave birth to a litter of pups, all were adopted except for the rotund brown one who lives with them now. Yes, Brownie's her name.

Lucky and Brownie.

Rusty is not the only Jack Russell Terrier in our neighbourhood. We have a Milo and Tutu living in our block. There is one called Toffee who lives down the street and a Rocky, who looks so much like Rusty.

Rusty and Rocky.

I like the name Coco but it's fairly common around here. There is Shasha the gentle Husky who loves Rusty a lot and her partner Gen, a gorgeous Goldie. Then there is Waggy, the friendliest labrador in the neighbourhood and the cheery American man with his three Ds - Dumpling the Cocker Spaniel, Daisy the Goldie and Dolphin the Japanese Spitz. (below)

 

While some breeds are common, there's only one Rocket - the funny frowny sharpei who lives round the corner.

One and only Rocket.