Puppies!

Finally, the call came.  “We have puppies!” 

Billie gave birth to four little critters, one male, three bitches, two grizzle colored and two blue and tan.  We got to first meet the little buggers when they were only one week old.  They looked like miniature Rottweilers with their dark, round little bodies. 

Every week-end for the next ten weeks, we drove up to Teri’s house to play with the puppies. It was a treat we Iooked forward to all week long.  Every week they had learned something new or developed new skills and silly antics that kept us laughing the whole time we were there. The inquisitive nature was already very evident as they checked us out from head to toe, climbed in the camera bag, pawed at my purse, found a way into the entertainment center and bounced their way around the living room.

The puppy breath, ahhhhh, the puppy breath… Would that someone could figure out a way to bottle that sweet, sweet smell.  We took pictures every week of the puppies and it was a delight to see their little personalities emerging. 

The smallest was a grizzle bitch with the tenacity of a tomboy.  She always wanted to play rough, well, rough for a puppy. Her favorite games involved tug of war or stealing the toy from another puppy.  The grizzle male was calm, cool and collected. He preferred to survey the activity and would follow the lead of the two blue and tan bitches. 

The two blue and tan bitches were like peas in a pod. They were sweet, silly and the ring leaders of the escapades into bags, around furniture and all over the house. They were fearless and relentlessly crawled all over us as we lay on the floor absorbing the puppy breath and border kisses. 

Teri talked to us about names and entertained us with stories about some of her other litters and the names of the dogs.  I was fascinated with the creativity and thought that goes behind those long AKC registration names we always hear. 

The first part of the name is the kennel the dog comes from. The rest of the name usually has some significant meaning that ranges from something associated with where the breed or the kennel comes from to the hobbies and interests of the breeder or some of the new puppy owners.  Then there’s the “call name” which is the name the dog actually goes by, in addition to the nick-names one picks up along the way like, “Wiggle Butt”, “Squirt”, “Punkin”,  “Miss Priss”, etc.

One owner appreciates fine coffee so one of the litters Teri had consisted of coffee related names.  From that litter we have met Kona and Java.  Another litter was all court room related: Beverlea Secret Agent, Beverlea Molly Malone, Beverlea Key Witness. Billie’s registered name is Beverlea Blue’s Singer.

One of my favorite names is Dixieland Whirlwind Romance.  “Passion” was born on Valentine’s Day during a tornado, hence her name. Another favorite didn’t actually make it to the AKC registrar because the new parents weren’t thrilled with the name. Beverlea Blue’s Singer bred with XXXX Ben Nevis (Ben Nevis being the highest mountain in Scotland where border terriers originate). Beverlea Mountain Music would be a puppy from this litter with the call name of “Banjo”. 

We tried to come up with something equally ingenious, but our imaginations failed us. When we went to pick up our new puppy we still didn’t have a name. We were getting one of the spunky blue and tan bitches and wanted something equally energetic and playful sounding to match her personality. As we sat there playing with the two blue and tan bitches, Teri and John were brainstorming names with us. 

“You live in Fox Hollow, border terriers hunt fox and a female fox is called a vixen.  How about Fox Hollow Vixen for a name?” suggested Teri.

“Perfect!  We’ll call her Vixen and the innuendo is priceless!” we agreed.

So, Vixen it was. We took our little Vixen home, grinning all the way.

Before we left, I and said to Teri, “She is really going to miss playing with everyone.”

She just smiled and said, “You’re her pack now.”

Gulp.  So much responsibility packed into that short little sentence.