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Pet People

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Name that Pet!


Why did you pick out the names you did for your pets? What is the story behind those names?

My first dog was already named Tramp when I adopted her from the Humane Society. I thought it would confuse her to have a new name, which was silly. She should have had a better name, but Tramp it was.

My second dog, Penny, was a pitiful stray beagle. My mom always told us a story as kids about a poor stray named Penny who went from house to house looking for someone to love. After being shooed away from home after home, a nice family took the dog in and loved it forever. Makes me tear up to this day thinking of it. That's where my Penny's name came from.

Peanut was originally going to be Teddy, but it just didn't seem to fit. He was only 5-months-old when found, and reminded me of a little brown peanut.

Zoe was just a name I liked, which also fit Zoe's sweet personality. Scooter had his name from my friend Laura, his original owner.

Tarzan was a wild tomcat who hung around with a female I called Jane. The names are obvious, as they lived wild in the "jungle" until I trapped and spayed and neutered. She disappeared one day, and Tarzan finally let us pet him and he learned to trust.

Catfish was rescued from the RiverWalk where he lived the sad life of a stray. He had a fishhook embedded in his lip--Lord knows for how long. He was a great catch and Catfish is the perfect name for him. His original name was "Hooker."

So tell me all your tales of how you give you pets their names!

posted by Sandy at 5/03/2007 10:17:00 AM

11 Comments:

Blogger Stacey said...

This isn't related to the topic at hand, but I wanted everyone to read it, so I'm putting it here!

I want to share the information the Humane Society has sent out about additional funding for the animal control facility. As most of you probably remember, last summer the County Commission chopped almost a million dollars off of the requested amount for a new, modernized animal control facility that would be large enough to allow for county growth for 25 years.

Thanks to that budget ax, there isn't enough money to do this thing the right way. So, animal control is requesting more money at this month's commission meeting. Not nearly as much as was cut originally.

This coming Monday, May 7th and the following Monday, May 14th will impact the future of Animal Control in our community. The animals encourage (and beg) you to speak for them by encouraging county commissioners to vote YES for newly requested monies desperately needed for the new animal control facility currently in the works. Both meetings start at 6pm for informal budget hearing and 7pm for the commission meeting and will be held at the Courthouse located on 2nd Street, downtown Clarksville. The meeting on the 7th is the informal session where the public will be allowed to speak on this issue. The vote will actually be on the 14th.

Without approval of these additional funds, Animal Control’s building committee will be forced to cut away even more at the current plans. These plans have already been revised several times, and cutting any more will begin to sacrifice the building’s structure. The AC Building Committee is not willing to do that, so they need our support!!

Clarksville is closer now than EVER to replacing its severely inadequate 30-year old facility. Many of the prior commissioners that voted NO have since been replaced with new commissioners, so hopefully this is a new opportunity to win over approval!

PLEASE contact YOUR commissioner!!!!! Contact information can be found here: http://www.montgomerycountytn.org/county/home_links/commissioner.htm. Tell them to vote YES for more money for animal control!!!

Please remember to remain professional and calm when speaking with or to our leaders. They are more apt to listen and retain your information. If they get what they perceive to be some "pet fanatic" on the phone, they are going to tune you out.

Other things you can do to help??? Submit a letter to the editor of this fine newspaper. Letter guidelines are available on the opinion page online. ATTEND THE MEETINGS!!!!! There is power in numbers. Inside and outside. Bring your pets for a show of solidarity to greet the commissioners when they arrive. Make your own "protest sign". My dog Lucy got to be an activist last year when we spent the evening at the courthouse with other dedicated pet owners and their fur babies! That was where I met Sandy's Zoe for the first time.

This is a message that cannot be ignored this time! Animal control cannot continue to be put on the back burner! Let's get Montgomery County out of the dark ages when it comes to animal control.

Who can I count on to see there????

Thursday, May 03, 2007 1:10:00 PM  
Blogger O'Malley said...

Stacey,
Is it more important to be at the meeting where we can speak or at the voting meeting? Sorry to sound ignorant, but I am in these matters. Other than calling commissioners and writing, I agree there is power in numbers. Does the Humane society have some sort of phone tree, email tree etc to help get other concerned folks at the meeting? I am totally willing to go if able. I am obligated to the ballpark for my daughters but maybe I could get someone to take them that evening if they should have a game. Tentatively count me in . Thanks for sharing the info also.

Thursday, May 03, 2007 5:15:00 PM  
Blogger Adrienne said...

On how we got the names for our pets, Stella was already named when we got her and it just suits her, so we didn't bother to change it. We did giver her a middle name, Stella Ann. I was running a day care when I got Mattie and we were reading Matilda so I let the kids name her. Her registered name is Waltzing Matilda. Oscar looked like Oscar the grouch as a puppy. Since we got him for Mattie, his registered name is Matties Golden Oscar. How many dogs do you know that have there own Oscar? We had talked about keeping two of there puppies and I wanted to name them Tony and Emmy, but Hubby didn't think it was as cute as I did. Jazzy was such a spaz when we got him and I didn't like spaz as a name so Hubby suggested Jazz. Although at times I think we should have named him satin.

Thursday, May 03, 2007 6:23:00 PM  
Blogger Skeeter said...

I was a neighbor to the Saint when the apartment stray cat had two kittens on my porch! Several tenants felt sorry for her and fed her, why she chose to have those kittens on my porch is unknown. Maybe I had the best food and she seem to like the open door policy also! Anyway, I gave one kitten to my neighbor which later became my Saint. So he named Skeeter. We lived in Louisiana and if any of you have been there to live, you know all about the mosquitoes there! Skeeter got his name from the Mosquito because the Saint said he would hide all day long then come out at night like the Louisiana mosquitoes! Hence, Skeeter…..

It took us a long time to choose names for the girls because we could not agree. As you all know they came to us as strays from the woods behind our house. I came up with Sheba right away as I could see a little Queen in her. She was a take charge kind of gal. But we were not sure of the sex of the cat. The Saint wanted to name her Hobo because she showed up looking like a little hobo that had been riding the rails! If she were a male, I was going with Hunter for her hunting skills. She killed birds in our yard on a regular basis before I took her in. I love my birds and it was heart breaking for me to see her catch one but impressive as to her hunting techniques… A few weeks later, once we realized she was a female, Sheba stuck. She has had nicknames of Watermelon belly, Missy prissy, She-be and the Queen.

Cheetah was easy for me because of her climbing skills. I have never seen a cat run up a tree that fast in my life! She would run up a tree chasing the flying squirrels at night and gray squirrels during the day. She was not much of a hunter but she seem to enjoy running up trees. She reminded me of a little monkey plus she had a white color around her neck like a monkey. The name of Tarzans Cheetah monkey came to mind. I cannot remember what the Saint wanted to call her but Cheetah was perfect in my eyes and in time the Saint liked it also. We now call her Monkey more then Cheetah but she knows both names as well as Chi-Chi…

Oh how I wish again that I lived in Clarksville! I would have a speech ready for the City counsel to hear! We attend meetings here in Georgia on topics of interest to us so I would have no problems being there with speech in hand. It is up to us humans to be a mouth for the fur babies of the world! It just appalls me to no end how old and outdated that facility has become while the city grows more and more with each day! Arggggggg…

Thursday, May 03, 2007 8:20:00 PM  
Blogger Stacey said...

Shannon,

The Humane Society has an email list that you can sign up for. It is called the ACTION LINE and you can sign up on this page:

http://clarksvillehumanesociety.org/getinvolved.htm

Just scroll down until you see the Action Line section.

I actually emailed Amy (Asst Director) that question earlier today about which meeting was most important, if people can only make one. I have not gotten a reply as of yet. When I hear from her tomorrow, I will update you here. Tell Sandy to send me your email address and we can communicate directly.

Skeeter, it is the county commission that controls the purse strings for animal control, not the city. And, you don't have to live here to contribute a letter to the editor. They frequently print letters from other cities and states, with "former Clarksville resident" noted on the letter. So, by God, write a letter! Give the perspective of having moved away and nothing has changed in XX number of years, etc. That would be a good, outside viewpoint. Yes, the more I think about it, the more I like it. Check out those letter guidelines and get cracking. You can email it right to them!

Thursday, May 03, 2007 9:54:00 PM  
Blogger Daisylouu said...

The dogs came pre-named. "Bennie" my Tennessee dog was name by Inge. "Murphy" was named my my father-in-law (we inherited the dog when he died)

The first cat was named by my then-five-year-old daughter who just watched the movie "Homeward Bound" so her name is "Sassy".

Second cat was a stray named by the kids in the neighborhood who played with her until I brought her in, "Tiger".

Last cat was named by my daughter whose favorite flower is a "Lily".

I can't recall ever naming a pet myself! (although I have quite a few pet-names for my dear hubby, none of which can be printed here)

Friday, May 04, 2007 4:57:00 AM  
Blogger Stacey said...

Let's see, here are some reasons for my children's names. When my oldest cat was a kitten and came to live with me, he used to "low crawl" across the floor (crawling on the belly using your arms and legs). The EX was in the Army and commented he looked like an Army Ranger when he low crawled like that. So, Ranger he became. His first brother (gone many years now) climbed into a motorcycle helmet that was sitting in a chair and went to sleep. He was then dubbed Harley.

I don't remember how Dixie got her name. Maybe we were both so happy to be back in the south after being stationed all over?? Same for Reb I guess......

My next cat is named Casper. You would automatically think he is white, right? But, no! He is gray. He was named Casper because he is the FRIENDLIEST cat in the history of the world. He doesn't care who you are, you MUST pet him. He almost greets people at the door with the dogs he's so eager to make friends. Then there is the youngest cat..... Punkin to the vet and the pet sitters, because of his orange color. But to the rest of us, his name is Sh*thead. Seriously. I hemmed and hawed about finding the "perfect" name for him for weeks. He was a nuisance when he was a kitten, always getting into everything! Sweetie took to calling him Sh*thead in exasperation, and it stuck! My mama even called him that!! It goes on the tags on his Christmas presents.....

The most recent addition to the family is Lucy. She is a redhead, and when she first came to us, she was pretty ditzy and spastic (okay, Sweetie says she still is). So I guess I named her after Lucille Ball. She just "felt" like a Lucy. It's funny, because her entire litter was rescued from a ditch, and out of the 3 sisters that the rescue adopted out, 2 of them were renamed Lucy by their new parents!! So, I guess it really must have fit!!

Friday, May 04, 2007 8:34:00 AM  
Blogger Pam said...

ok, first from childhood, dogs, Lassie( looked just like Lassie ) Buddy, don't know, Honey Bunch because he was the cutest honey colored cocker spaniel. Cats, Cinderella ( because I loved the name )Snowball becasue he was white. Ricky, named after a friend.
First pet after I had my family was dog Max short for Maximillian Sebastian ( that was daughters idea ), cats,Tiger because of his stripes,( his middle name was also Sebastian ) Samantha Josephine ( Josephine after Grandmother )Cosette Marie ( after Cosette in Les Miserables, sp?), Brittany Nicole, because we like it, Matilda, Courtney Noelle, and Penelope Suzanne. Courtney was named Matilda after the song like Adrienne's dog Mattie by the lady who ahd her first but I had planned on naming our next girl Coourtney and I didn't want to take away anything that already belonged to her including her name so kept the Matilda part too. Penelope was already named by Suzanne and Gerda at Cats Are Us so kept that and added Suzanne after Suzanne. Now they call them Aunt Suzanne and Aunt Gerda,ha. Gerda's nickname is spoken like Getta so actually Aunt Getta.

Friday, May 04, 2007 3:12:00 PM  
Blogger Stacey said...

Shannon (and anyone else that can come), if you can only go to one of the commission meetings, come to the informal session on this upcoming Monday. That is when most people will be swayed one way or another, if they have not already made up their minds. By the voting session, they will know how they are going to vote.

Friday, May 04, 2007 3:20:00 PM  
Blogger Madeline's World said...

We have Daisy, who is a yellow lab. We were going to name her Blondie, but Daisy seemed to fit her better. When she was a pup, she was "Crazy Daisy", but now that she is 6 and calmed down and gets the most pleasure out of laying in front of an open window, we call her "Lazy Daisy".

We had another dog named "Annie". When we first got her, (she was picked up as a stray", I wanted to name her "Tango", just cause I liked it, but it didn't seem to fit her. Because she was red and a stray, she became orphan "Annie". That fit her like a charm.

After Annie passed away, we got another pup, a crazy little rascally dog that looks like a mix of a collie and a fox. I wanted to name her Molly or Polly the collie, but somehow, we liked "Marley" better. (this was before we had heard of or read the book, Marley and Me.)

We then took in another foster dog with 3 puppies for the Humane Society. We named the mama "Penny", because she was lucky (she got out of Animal control just in the nick of time) and her three pups "Fred, "Barney" and "Betty" after the Flintsones.

And we have loved them all...

Friday, May 04, 2007 3:58:00 PM  
Blogger Skeeter said...

I love the names Fred, Barney, and Betty. If you had a fourth, it could have been Wilma....

Wednesday, May 09, 2007 8:07:00 PM  

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Pet People

Sandy Britt, an animal welfare advocate and volunteer with Clarksville rescue organizations, takes care of three dogs: Zoe, Scooter and Peanut; two cats: Catfish and Tarzan; and one husband, Glen, and according to him she takes care of them in that order.
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