Puppies!

Four weeks old

I received a puppy video from our breeder, Robin, (Aubridge Goldens) yesterday. Ten squirming bundles of adorableness toddling around their "nest".

(sigh)

I'm already suffering from a serious case of "puppy love" and I haven't even met them!

(tick tock tick tock)

Today was library day, and I came home with a book of Baby Names. Silly me, I haven't even seen the little guys yet, and yet, a name is such an important thing - not to be taken lightly or spontaneously.

Beau was easy to name. Matt and I had rescued a Golden Retriever from a four lane freeway one time, years ago, and took him to the local shelter for the community we were driving through. The shelter staff recognized him (Beau) since the dog was prone to wandering and the owner was less than watchful. Ever since that day, we knew that when we got a dog, Beau would be his name.

Zachary... oh my... that was a hard one. We tried out many, many names and there were great family debates. I knew I didn't want a dog whose name sounded like a common cue, as you wouldn't believe the amount of flak I got for having a dog whose named rhymed with "No".

This eliminated pretty much any name that started with "S" (Sit, Stay, Stand) or "D" (Down), or ended in a "o" sound (like the dreaded "No" - not that I ever used the word, simply because it was too close to "Beau".)

We also wanted a "people" name. Our dogs are family members, and while I had many well-loved pets with standard pet names (Tiger, Patches, Callie (for Calico), Miss Pocket (a hamster), to name just a few) I had gotten used to a dog with a people name, and rather like the feel of it.

I think we stumbled across the name "Zachary" when my son was listed off names of his friends. It just seemed to fit. I liked the fact it wasn't your typical dog name, and I really liked how it ended in an "ee" sound, as there was no way to say "Zachary" in a mean way.

On other puppy related fronts...

We dropped Zachary off at "the day spa" today, and in line in front of us was a 14 week old terrier puppy.

Adorable.

Zachary was calm, cool, and very patient as the puppy jumped all over his face, tried to climb on his back, and got tangled in his feet.

A good sign, yes?