January 2007 Archives

We had picked out a name for the puppy, actually. Since the three of us had gotten all hooked on Battlestar Galactica, we thought it would be pretty cool to name the puppy Gaius, after our favorite character. Or, it could also be a reference to one of my favorite dictators.

Well, when we got the little guy, we discovered that the name just didn't work. Not so much because we'd fallen out of love for the name, just that the little guy didn't look like a Gaius. Sherry thought he looked like a "Toby". Jacob was set on the name "Mr. Pugglesworth", in reference to Dr. Evil's cat. And I wanted to call him Chopper, in reference to the grizzly Eric Bana film of the same name. Or maybe in reference to the book Cujo, that being Cujo's original name.

In any case, I clearly wasn't going to get any takers on my name, so I let it drop. I was warming up to the name Toby when I noticed somethign that should have been more obvious, but for some reason wasn't: Toby was a first name, and Mr. Pugglesworth was a last name. So our compromise was to give the puppy the full name of Toby Pugglesworth.

A younger, more cynical version of me would probably have vomited a bit in his mouth to know that in the future, he would not only have a dog named "Toby Pugglesworth", but would think it's a really good name.

So, what's been going on with me lately? Tons of stuff. So much, in fact, I'll drop them one post at a time until I've unwound the many numerous things that have been going on with this guy.

The biggest news: we added another person to the family. Specifically a small four-legged dog-type person.

See, the lovely Fiancée and the Cub had been eying the Puggle, which is half pug, half beagle and all cute.

Now, I'd been adiment that if we're going to get a dog, we aren't going to get one until Easter. If someone (i.e. this guy here) is going to have to go outside fifteen times a day to let the puppy go tinkle, I'd rather it not be five degrees outside with sleet whipping past my head at 70 miles an hour.

Well, sometime before Christmas, the Fiancée was talking to her dad, who breeds dogs. Just out of curiosity (or so she claims) she asked if he knew someone who breeds puggles. Dog breeders comprise a fairly small community, and he'd be able to mention someone reputable.

Instead he said, "Well, I have two of them out in the puppy room right now. A boy and a girl. Why, did you want one?"

He made us a very good deal on the boy puppy. Especially when you actually saw the little guy. I mean, have you ever seen anything cuter than that?

So my days of living it up, sleeping until 8 or 9 in the morning on Saturdays are over and done. Again.

It's not without its benefits, though. The puppy gets cuter every day, which I just wouldn't have thought would be possible. It gets less googly-eyed, and seems less shocked and horrified at the world (an expression you see quite a bit in the pictures). And he's more frisky and rambunctious every day. I'm all in favor of the puppy being wild and crazy. You know, unless it's bigger than 20 lbs. Anything less, I think I can handle.

So that's been dominating the household. It's brightened everyone's life, in my opinion. And there will be more pictures later, if anyone still cares. I suspect someone else's dog is like someone else's dreams: way more interesting for the one than the other.

In the meantime, it's way past beditme for me. More news tomorrow!