Brent and I think we did just that.
In My first baby, I wrote about my first encounter with Sensi — you know, the one where he wouldn’t wake up. I even propped him up on all fours, and he just slid back down to the floor.
Sensi’s grogginess and deep affinity for sleep never went away. Perhaps during his adolescent stage he was a little less preoccupied with sleep, but it was always important to him.
Another thing he’s never lost is what I call the, “Precious Moments,” eyes. So often, his eyes just look sad and full of longing.
He’s also fairly grumpy and rather animated about his mood.
Sensi makes all sorts of nearly noiseless and eerily human vocalizations — namely his big, heavy sighs.
On the average night, he’ll approach Brent and I on the couch, resting his head on the cushion of the ottoman. He looks at us with the best “Precious Moments,” eyes he can muster.
This is how Sensi begs for his favorite spot, which is on the ottoman, between Brent and I and on top of the microfiber blanket (all the elements have to be in place or else he won’t beg, he’ll just go find another spot).
If we say no, Sensi intensifies his sad eyes a little bit, cocking his head at us as if to say, “But why? Why do you have to be so cruel?”
Then he’ll turn away, shuffling over to another spot and when he lies down, he looks back at us and lets out the biggest, most exasperated sigh to ever come from a dog.
“Geez Eeyore,” Brent will say. “Such a big deal that you had to lay somewhere else on the couch.”
And this is where we think we went wrong.
Eeyore is a much more appropriate name, given Sensi’s personality. We tease him, calling him Eeyore pretty often.
Sleepy, mopey and grumpy would’ve worked too.
Dogs, like people, earn nicknames based on behaviors they develop over time. There's no way to know how either will act at birth, so it's not surprising the name they are given then won't "fit" perfectly.
ReplyDeleteOne of my dogs is named Dexter, but we call him "Little Bear" a lot because, now that he is older, bigger and fluffier, he looks like a bear cub. He responds to both names just fine, but we only use Dexter when giving commands.
I don't know anyone who hasn't given their dog a second nickname based on their behavior. It think it's cute. I don't think it makes the actual name "wrong," just like any nickname you may have earned makes your actual name wrong.