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Does Their Name Really Fit Them ?


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I do not know how many of you out there have actually sat back at some point . . . . . looked at your pup \ dog and knew the name you gave them was close to or spot on for them. For my little guy . . . the moment I saw him I knew it was fight (like my dream told me) that Janjira Coffey was and is fitting him in more ways than one. Janjira - town and NUCLEAR POWER plaint in 2014 Godzilla movie and Coffey - Character in the Green Mile movie "like the drink . . only not spelled the same". Coffey can be a handful as well as thick headed yet I find that there are slight hints here and there Coffey is becoming more mature as he grows up more. I would not change his name because I do not see any other name fitting him.

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(Said in shakey voice) "Janjira. Janjira..."

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Chhaya's fits her I think....I was talking with my Mom the other day and we were discussing our pups personalities...Chhaya isn't a big snuggle bug, once in awhile she lays up against me but mostly she is close to me and in the same room, ALWAYS knows where I'm at. Mom noticed when I clean for her Saturdays Chhaya will make sure where I'm at...if I'm upstairs she's there, if I go down to the basement without her knowing she FINDS me lol. Her name means "shadow" in Cherokee....

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Kito's seems to fit him well (Kito meaning "precious gem.") The diamond on his back isn't as pronounced as when he was tiny, but he's developed a dark diamond outline on his face now too. Lots of shadow and light going on.

 

Bandit seems to fit too. He will steal your heart, as well as anything out of the trash. :)

 

Lucky (or Luck-Luck as he was most often called) was a total fit too. We rescued each other.

 

I am always excited to hear the new names everyone comes up with, because without fail, a great deal of effort is put into figuring out what fits.

Edited by mommom
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Janjira - town and NUCLEAR POWER plaint in 2014 Godzilla movie

 

I wear my husband's Godzilla t-shirt constantly, and you would not BELIEVE the number of compliments I get on it. He never got any when HE wore it. LOL

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Liliko'i, which means passion fruit flower in Hawaiian, is very flowery.

 

She has a light, bouncy personality and is engaging in all situations where there are people present. She's just a naturally outgoing sort of goof. Like a flower though she's delicate & fragile too...her feelings are always at the surface. Wary of things she doesn't recognize she'll avoid investigation, especially if the object of attention is moving. Sometimes though she'll steel herself & stroll right up to danger, as she did a couple of years ago in Utah at Dead Horse Point peering over a several hundred foot drop off then turning & bouncing off in a different direction to investigate elsewhere.

cairn investigation.jpg

Then there's Kekona.

 

growth.jpg

Kekona means second born in Hawaiian (we have this Hawaiian thing...it's complicated) and Kekona is very much the stereotypical younger sibling; barging in, stealing things with sudden full on attacks and just making herself very much of a whiny, spoiled brat around the house. She has a higher energy level than Lili, she prefers to be outside 172% of the time and if possible she'd like to go out right now if that would be BARK BARK BARK. Once outside she'll revert to some instinctual being, managing the space around her as I like to imagine a wolf would. She has her favorite spots and patrols them regularly and the yard is clear of any varmints. It's funny because she'll always come up to greet me when I come outside but then she'll go off & be in her own little world sometimes not even noticing when I walk up behind her. Then, of course, there are the times that I become the prey.

 

We don't have a big space for them to play but it's about a third of an acre so they can get some good velocity numbers going there when the mood strikes them. Zoomies, as we have all learned, are an entertainment class unto itself and while the incidence of zoomy has declined in recent years the rare occurrence is even more manic & hilarious than ever before since we now have two animals with the full on zoomy gene.

 

 

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Hmmm... our Loki. It took us a while to name him and we weren't so sure his name fit at first because he was super sweet and snuggly and generally a good boy (Loki - norse god of trickery/mischief). Then he started doing things like this when we left the room.

 

IMG_2965 (1).jpg

 

Now, when he wants to chew something he shouldn't (such as a shoe) he first finds a dog toy or bone and lays that on top to hide what he is doing. He definitely keeps us on our toes. Maybe we should have named him something else. :wacko:

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Hmmm... our Loki. It took us a while to name him and we weren't so sure his name fit at first because he was super sweet and snuggly and generally a good boy (Loki - norse god of trickery/mischief). Then he started doing things like this when we left the room. [img=http://www.iidoba.org/forums/public/style_images/master/attachicon.gif] IMG_2965 (1).jpg Now, when he wants to chew something he shouldn't (such as a shoe) he first finds a dog toy or bone and lays that on top to hide what he is doing. He definitely keeps us on our toes. Maybe we should have named him something else. :wacko:

 

 

I enlarged the picture and laughed so hard I snorted! TOOO FUNNY!

 

Oh, and wow you named him correctly - or did he just embody / soak in the name you gave him???? hmmmmmm ........ :ph34r:

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  • 3 weeks later...

My new pup's name is Kooskooskie. It is pronounced just as it looks.

 

It is a Nez Perce word meaning, "Clear Water".

 

The word was used all over this region. There was the Kooskooskie Mt. Range, the "Clearwater River", was the Kooskooskie River, and the list goes on. Unfortunately, the white settlers, and especially Lewis and Clark, decided to rename everything after themselves. We have the Lewis River, Lewis Peak, the Clark Fork River, Lewiston and Clarkston, blah, blah, blah.

 

I say that it is unfortunate because we have lost these beautifully descriptive words for our places. We can't tell if the Lewis river is wide or narrow, if it runs all year, or if the water is drinkable. As an example, "Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest variously called Mount St. Helens"Louwala-Clough" or "Loowit," which meant "smoking mountain." It would have been nice to know that a few years ago. Imagine how it might have changed things.

 

But I digress.

 

My husband and I have been throwing around possible names for several years. (He thought Catastrophe was a good name because then we could call our dog, "Cat". He is very helpful with suggestions, but rarely serious about these things.) Anyway, suffice it to say, we had a list and Kooskooskie was one of the names.

 

Kooskooskie is a place that those of us who were born and raised here, know well. You follow a river (no doubt, Kooskooskie) up past the heat of the wheat fields and into the forest of the Blue Mountains (I should look up that name!). It is a lovely narrow canyon with a clear and cool river running through it's heart. There are small cabins, and we would go for picnics at friend's places, and tube down the river. It was heaven. Great memories. We'd say, "Let's go up Kooskooskie."

 

The missionaries renamed the river, "Mill Creek". I guess that is descriptive because they put their mill there, but not very poetic if you know what I mean. So now, the new people that have moved into the area, call the place "Mill Creek". Now they say, "Let's go up Mill Creek".

 

So we were on the list, but really thinking to wait for another 6 months. However, as you know, Kim introduced me to this little gal, and he said she was right for me, for us, and for Sitka.

 

Well, not only had I promised my husband I would not come back with a pup, but I am very ashamed to admit that I had fallen into the very trap that I constantly warn all of you about: she was not the color I was hoping for. She was blond with a reddish mask and clear green eyes. After 15 years of looking at these dogs, I had hoped for a blue, or a dusty coated wild thing.

 

So I said "no", and walked away.

 

But she haunted me. It was her personality. As the days passed I only became more certain that she would fit splendidly with our family, but it's a 9+1/2hr drive and I'd just come back from there!

 

And then there was one fateful day when we were driving back to Waitsburg from the Walla Walla Valley (many waters), when you round this bend and look over vast wheatfields up towards Kooskooskie. The golden grain, partially cut, showing the reddish stalks in the patterns left by the combines, leading up to the cool shade and clear water of Kooskooskie, well I looked out there and I said, "That is her. She is Kooskooskie."

 

Soon after that, I drove 9+1/2 hours down, picked her up, turned around, and drove 9+1/2 hours back.

 

She is perfect for us. I have not regretted a single moment. When we meet locals and Old timers and I tell them her name, they just light up. "Kooskooskie", they say with deep and unmistakable affection. And she always responds by being absolutely lovely and affectionate right back at them.

 

The people that don't know have a little trouble with the name, but I don't mind. We call her Kooskie most of the time.

 

kooskiegreeneyes3.jpg

 

 

 

Her colors are changing. She has more of the swirly dark gard hairs that you can just see in this photo. Her clear green eyes are turning to a light clear yellow, but still deep, like those cat's eye marbles we used to play with.

 

Sitka's eyes are like captivating silver discs, but her eyes are deep and draw you into them.

 

They are all beautiful. Every single one of these AIDogs is beautiful.

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  • 8 months later...

Names...so important and carefully chosen, for our human children and our fur children. A lot of consideration was given before settling on "Kaposia", but as with our human children as their personalities came through, so did the fitting affectionate nickname. Kaposia is now 2 years and 3 months old, and her earned affectionate name is now "Lovey." She is the cuddliest, loviest, most affectionate sensitive dog. I am still struggling with some very nasty adverse side effects from the rabies vaccine after a bat bite 6 months ago, and Lovey really senses when I'm not doing well and cuddles up to me. She shares our bed and greets us and each new day with more love and cuddles than you can imagine. She keeps us active walking, playing ball and frisbee. So appropriate that she has a heart on her chest markings. The Great Spirit really worked through Kim to send this dog into our lives.

image.jpeg

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If i had to name my dog today would I name him the same.... not sure my daughter wants to change his name to Dennis the Menace....I picked Zuni because I love the weaving, baskets and jewelry of the Zuni and it is a word associated with beauty... he is a beautiful dog but a bit of a terrorist too... wonder if a different name would have changed things?? Still a pup...still a pup....

IMG_6284 2.jpg

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Yes, still a pup. Kaposia aka Lovey also had her terrorist phase when I seriously wondered what I had done by bringing her into our lives. The forum helped, Kim's suggested readings (which I did before getting "the call") and memories of how long it took our Golden Retriever, Nugget to settle in got us through the training and rebellion/testing the alpha/teething/nipping stages. As someone else on this forum once said, it's like one day it all clicks and you suddenly have a completely different dog. It takes between 2 and 4 years of insanity for a pup to really grow up and settle in. That's really wonderful, but sometimes I look back and miss the crazy puppy antics, just like raising a child. Important to understand and treasure each phase.

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Tayamni (Lakota star constellation where some believe souls come from to be born) settled in at 1 yr. , certified for the Therapy Dog program (1 yr 2 mos) and passed her CGC at 1 yr 4 mos. Of course she still had some puppy issues - like off leash training still needing - but now around 2.5 yrs I have been able to keep door open and she will wait /stay while I walk away (from the car - she has been good in the house) and I can drop the leash while she is walking and will stay next to me! :D

(she doesn't have a high prey drive so this helps and I don't practice it in high risk areas).

 

I guess she set the bar high for Coffey....... :blink:

"Janjira" Coffey can train to be a PSA for Kelli (not ESA - he has started special training to nose her when she is zoning out, and also like PTSD dogs, he can put pressure on her too as needed.

We haven't been as consistent in that training and since his 'Janjira Reactiveness' is still not out of his system, we have been concentrating on reducing his on-leash reactiveness.

He would not pass the CGC test. I think we will concentrate on the service dog training and then hopefully within another 2 years he will calm and be able to pass the CGC test/Canine Good Citizen.

 

We do have a good sounding 'Guard Dog'. His voice is gruff and the neighborhood kids respect him. (He really just wants to play with them .... ). Oh and he did scare away a potential burglar who tried to break in through our living room window .... however he barks from where he is (it was night so he was in the bedroom) and I have to get up to do a walk through and then he will follow or go past me.... :huh:. At least he has such a deep gruff voice - it sounds like he is a 100 lb dog!!!!!!! :P He is little and only 35 lbs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Before Kooskie, I would not have known what you meant.

Swans, twining necks; she is so sweet and endearing.

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