the naming of dogs

"The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES."

So claimed T.S. Eliot in -- well, what else? -- "The Naming of Cats."

And his couplets very well may true.  I know little of naming cats.  Or keeping cats.  I am a dog man by nature.

But naming a dog is the essence of dog ownership.  Get it wrong and the dog is marked for life with a name that will cause titters rather than catching his dog spirit.

Well, I faced that problem this week.  To be honest, I had chosen a name for my new dog before I had ever seen the dog -- a very dangerous prospect.

I wanted a name that had Hispanic roots, but one that bespoke dogginess, was descriptive, and had a bit of wit at its root.  One of the dangers of naming in two languages is that the name can have an inadvertent double meaning.  And mine suffers from that problem.  In a very small way.

Yesterday was my delivery date.  But I did not get out of the dental chair until late in the evening.  Two friends persuaded me to wait until this morning to pick him up -- when I could spend the full day with him before the dreaded first night away from the litter.

It has been a great day.  I have introduced him to some friends, took him swimming, and let him play with children.

For those of you who have asked for photographs, you may need to wait for a bit.  The puppy has been running around the courtyard so fast I cannot get a very good shot.  There will be plenty of time for that.

But we were talking about names.  I was originally looking at the puppy called green.  However, when I heard the red puppy was very vocal, I knew the name had found the dog.

So, dear readers, let me introduce you to the latest regular in this situation comedy called Mexpatriate: Barco Rubio.