Posted on 08/22/2006 5:17:16 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother
Vanity of vanities . . .
I put a deposit down today on a female Black Labrador Retriever, born 8/16. She'll be ready to come home in October. So now I've got to figure out a name for this little bundle of joy.
She's coming from Wisconsin, from Candlewood Kennels which is arguably the best field trial kennel in the country. She's not a typical field trial dog, she has some "dual purpose" (i.e. show and hunt test) on her mom's side. Her mom is a fully trained hunting dog who has produced good field dogs.
The tradition is to somehow combine the names of the father and mother. Of course her prefix has to be Candlewood. The sire is FC/AFC The Man In Black ("Cash"), who is by 2xNAFC/2xCNAFC Ebonstar Lean Mac (a top producing sire - 117 field champions) out of Gator Point's Sweet Potato Pie, a CFTC/CAFTC Pachanga Magnum Force daughter out of a HRCH. The dam is Kerrybrook Candlewood Connor, who is by Ch. Franklin's Champagne out of Kerrybrook's March to the Sea JH. That side has notable FC/AFC Webshire's Honest Abe, another very good field trial sire, and Abercrombie & Fitch MH, who is a sire not only of field dogs but also numerous seeing eye dogs and search and rescue dogs. Two of his get were S&R dogs at the Twin Towers. So she should have plenty of brains, and plenty of "go". Because of the show background she should be a pretty girl as well.
The obvious way to go is a Johnny Cash song . . . friend of mine suggested "A Dog Named Sue" . . . we could easily tie in her mom's name with an "O'Connor" . . . but I'm kind of looking for something cute and a little unusual.
I figured I could get both out of the dog fanciers at FR . . . the floor is open for nominations.
Our first Lab is a little chocolate out of that line, by NFC/AFC Storm's Riptide Star. Smart dogs, a little excitable and slow to mature, but very capable.
I learned my version from a calypso singer in the Turks & Caicos Islands, so it probably got a good deal altered on the way from Memphis . . .
Gus short for Augusta. I have a friend named Augusta, she always insists on the full name though. And another friend is Gene short for Eugenia (my gg grandmother's name). I would draw the line at Feemy for Euphemia, but I actually know of somebody with that name . .. no accounting for taste.
....all my cats were named "Floyd"
Dread Pirate Roberts would be GREAT for a boy . . . I'm going to file that away. Dread Pirate Roberta?
I didn't name her, the breeder did, and she got all the extra letters herself.
Actually, the breeder had a list from which we were permitted to choose . . . but the other choices left for the litter were Lady Godiva and Chocolate Cheese. So Shelley had a pretty narrow escape.
She was bred in Portage. The breeder does not keep any of her bitches in kennels, she puts them out with friends, so that the babies are raised underfoot in a house and properly socialized.
Kids naming pets is a wonderful event. One kitten was named frisbee. A cat with a bent tail was Bentley. A calico was Pepper. Calvin, scooter, purrball, porkchop, sparky and pickles were others from our extended family.
Have fun!!
Shadowetta.
I named our foundling predominantly black lab girl, Chloe. It's perfect for her.
Have fun with your new pup! I know you will.
How about Sheba?
(I was thinking of the play/film COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA, of course.)
Come to think of it . . .
How about "MOOCHPOOCH?"
I do like the "Cash-n-Kerry" except, as another noted, for the negative Kerry connotation. Perhaps Cash 'N Kerrybrook.
Other possible Cash song references that could be incorporated:
Get Rhythm (kind of like that for an agility dog)
Jackson
One Piece at a Time
...
I did a search on "Johnny Cash discography", and believe it or not there is a song titled "Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog". I wouldn't use that as part of her registered name, but you can keep it handy for those times she gets into the trash, etc... ;-)
I've shipped many puppies (to and from). While it's a pain in the neck, I've never had anything go wrong (altho I know sometimes things do). If you can ship counter to counter (like Delta Dash) that is your best bet. As for flying up to get the puppy, if you like to fly (I don't fly at all anymore) then you have the fun of chatting and seeing the parent(s) (if you haven't) and also the littermates (fun)!
If I was willing to fly, I would probably go pick up, since it would be fun. But, I personally have no qualms shipping puppies or adults for that matter (altho the prices have gone way up since I first started doing it).
susie
Heh...that was the song that came to mind as soon as I read the original post, but I didn't think I'd better suggest it. ;-) I think it's the only dog song Johnny Cash did.
Get Rhythm is cute . . . for that matter, so is Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog! (I just might do that to a big rangy boy, but not to a pretty little girl who is going to be a looker.)
About how would the shipping costs compare to a round trip ticket -- about $200 for a 2 hour flight ATL to MKE, plus about $40 and 2 hours to rent a car to drive out to Portage, then turn around and do it all back the other way with a pup in a Sherpa bag! Not much time for sightseeing! Although if I get on the 9 a.m. Delta flight and come back on the 6:30 Delta flight, I'd have about two hours for visiting . . . assuming everybody's on time . . .
It seems like the last puppy I shipped (Austin to Palm Beach) was around $100. (it used to run about 50ish). So, it's probably cheaper to fly the puppy. I like Delta, btw. I've been the most happy with them, as the people who work there are always helpful, unlike some of the other airliners. It's about $200 to ship an adult golden these days, if my memory serves. I try to forget those things! ;)
susie
There are two black females to choose from in this litter, but I had a long talk with Mary Howley a couple of days ago, and I'm perfectly willing to let her choose. Number one, she knows what I want, Number two, she knows the pups better than I can possibly in 1-2 hours! The mom is a proven producer and the dad is an excellent field dog, she says the pups should all be bright, outgoing, and with plenty of "go", and she wouldn't let one go that wasn't. It's her opinion that in performance disciplines the variation in the litter is less important than the work I will be willing to put into training the pup. Which makes sense to me.
When I was very small (about 5) my parents put me and my little sister on a Delta flight to Orlando to stay with my mom's parents. They put us in first class under the care of a stewardess. Across the aisle was a very nice older man with white hair - we chatted and I became very confidential and told him that we ALWAYS flew Delta because Eastern Airlines had lost my parents' baggage on their honeymoon (this was perfectly true - this was in 1951 and it has never turned up). The man was highly amused and gave me his lapel pin, a little 24k gold DC-8.
Turned out he was C.E. Woolman, the founder and president of Delta.
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