THE MOORE DOG HAS A NEW LIFE AND A NEW NAME...

Yesterday, I referred to our new dog as Whoever and suggested my friends help us come up with a name.

I provided such clues as: He needed a home and we needed a dog. He's a sleek black doberman, very slim, beautiful and sweet. He seems to be an explorer/investigator, roaming the house with his nose to the floor...

We had such fun with the name suggestions, including:

**For strength and size: Marmaduke, Moose, Samson, Hercules...

**For sense of nosiness, exploration and investigation: Sherlock, Snoopy, Diego (Dora the Explorer's cousin on TV), Scout, Rover...
**In connetion to his nose-on-the-ground ways, someone suggested Dustin, because he may be actually dustin' the floor with his nose).

**For his slim-ness: Slim--for obvious reasons; and Asta--the dog in the old thin-man movies...

**And then there was "Handsome!"--for his dark beauty (his own sire actually bore the name Stunner); and Darth and/or Vader, from Star Wars...

**For the circumstance of the dog and the Moores finding each other, someone suggested the apt names of Chance; and Lucky...

**My cyber coffee crowd also suggested "Java," because the new dog will be a part of our daily coffee gathering; John Deere, because he can run like a Deere; Jeb because he was born in the Mountain State of West Virginia; and Beamer, for BMW because he's elite and fancy (not appropriate, of course, because his new owners are NOT fancy or elite)...

There was nothing wrong with the dog's original name--Coal. I really liked that name; I was charmed by it. It reflected his lustrous black coat and even worked with his West Virginia birthplace. But our trainer has always recommended we give each adopted dog a new name--symbolic of a new home, a new family, a new life. And we've always followed the trainer's good advice.

AND WHAT'S IN A NAME? A lot! That's why we've chosen a name that's special to us--MICK! 

NOT from the fictional Mick Dundee of the movies, but in honor of our old friend, master dog trainer Jim Dickard, and the memory of Jim's wonderful doberman Mick. Even though Mick has been gone for many years, he was an important dog in Jim's life, and Jim became important in our life with dobermans. We did not bestow the name until we sought and received Jim's blessing.

We met Jim in 1976 when we  adopted our first doberman, a dog who would need a lot of help in undoing his background. Jim was a well known for his skill with that breed, and thanks to him we learned to understand the things we needed to know and do (and NOT do) with this breed we knew nothing about. Thanks to him, we fell in love with the breed itself, and over the years we used Jim's expertise with each new dog; Jim became a friend and still is a friend; in fact, he went with Bob to check out the dog, to be sure he would be a good match for us, and us a good match for him.

 

AND NOW THE NAME! In AKC fashion, a purebred formal name should have three parts; and the "calling name" can be more casual.

So let us announce the new member of our household as "Moore's Mick of the Mountains"---the name being a salute to his birth state and an acknowledgement of the original name, Coal.
As for his calling name, our dog will henceforth be known to us as simply, "Mick."

 

I END BY SALUTING  the sweet young woman who unselfishly gave up her dog because of a drastic change in her life, including serious financial changes. She dearly loved the dog but made her firm decision in the interest of what was right for the dog.
I talked to her by phone this evening, and as understandably sad as this had been for her, she declared herself to be "at peace" because she had been so afraid she wouldn't find the proper home for her dog, "and now I know I really have!"

When circumstances come together and this young lady rebuilds her life, I am convinced she has the proper ethic to be a fine dog owner one day; and I know she will be!