A WORD ABOUT THE NAMES

BY JIM MAHAFFIE

The puppies are named Belle and Ness. Wha… you ask? Well, as it turns out, you can’t name valuable, purebred show dogs anything mundane like “Sparky” or “Duke” – unless these are derived from some careful theme that runs through the lineage of your dog.

Read no further if only interested in mutts. Continue naming your non-show ring quality dogs “Buddy,” “Rocky” and “Dakota.” But if you want to know…

Maizey is named “Caroling’s Amazing Journey.” She came from “Caroling’s Symbol Du Saguenay” (mom, called Symbol) and “Always An Angel” (dad, called Cherub). Caroling is the breeder/kennel name. That’s Carol Lingley, who is a saint, by the way. You should read the names of the whole line. They are quite snooty and poetic.

So, taking off from “Amazing Journey,” Carol came up with journey-type themes for this litter of pups, and Robert Frost’s “Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening.” In the third stanza, Frost says of the horse drawing his sleigh: “He gives his harness bells a shake, to ask if there is some mistake…” That’s where Ness and Belle came from. We also liked Woody, Missy, Eve, Miles, and Shake – but didn’t have enough puppies.

After the birth drama this past week, racing up 270 to the vet at 1am, perhaps a better poem choice would have been “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.”

Belle and Ness will be given snooty and poetic American Kennel Club (AKC) names soon. You can call your own dog “Coco,” “Barney” and “Princess.” But the AKC will, most assuredly, not be doing so.