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Random Thursday Question
Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 8:08PM This is a placeholder. A diversion. So you won’t notice that I haven’t posted promised blog entries. Hey! Look over there!
How did you come up with the name of your first pet?
Have you ever seen an Irish Setter? They’re really beautiful dogs. Their fur is long and silky, in tones that range from shiny copper penny to rich chestnut.
Part of my family always had dogs, but my first dog was an Irish Setter named Rosie. We were puppies together. I was her person. As she grew into a large dog, she guarded the perimeter of my blanket and play space. She prevented my escape with gentle nudges. She growled-a deep, quiet rumble in her chest-at any approaches she did not approve. If the story is credible, she once faced down an uncle—hackles raised, fully snarly and scary. Rosie died when I was in high school. Partly crippled by arthritis, and mostly blinded by cataracts. She lived a good, long, happy life in a big yard with a warm bed.
I don’t know who named her. I was barely more than a baby. Two years old. She was pedigreed, so Rosie was only her nickname. Her full name is lost to me. The nickname was surely chosen in part because she was a red dog. A beautiful, shiny, red dog.
How about you? Any pets? Any good names? How did you choose the name?
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Eglentyne and Rosie. She’d just had her first puppies. From the pants I’d guess around 1976 or 77. Why don’t I have pants like that now?!
Inspiration, It Looks Like I'm Doing Nothing..., Writing in People, Words 
Reader Comments (2)
Yes, I have always had dogs. When Paul and I married we moved into the married student housing at Texas A&M. No pets allowed, but one school year later we were sneaking our first little Aussie (short for Australian Shepherd) into the apartment. We then soon moved out to a mobile home park where we could officially have our dogs.
Paul bought this puppy for me for our first anniversary, hence the name Anniversary Girl a/k/a Annie. Annie was my first born. She was a small blue merle Aussie with one blue eye. She went everywhere with us including our first road trip to Colorado. We have pictures of her bounding in the snow at Pikes Peak. She was the smartest dog ever. She would jump into Paul's arms with a command "Annie Up"...she would load into the back of a pickup with "Annie Load Up" and she could say "oreo" when asked "Annie Can you say Cookie"? NOTE: What were we thinking letting our precious Annie ride in the back of a pick up. No way would that happen today!!!!! Oh the ignorance of youth! 'Course in those days kids didn't ride in car seats either...I shudder at the memories!
Annie was the best pet ever and probably the best anniversary gift ever! Although, she was quite obviously unhappy when she was no longer the only child, it wasn't long before she was guarding Aislynn with her life. She definitely would put herself between a stranger and Aislynn, drop her head, and offer a warning.
We always laughed that Annie knew how to get rid of the competition. Annie chased cars. We lived in Boerne and had a completely fenced yard. So Annie would jump out of the fence and chase cars until we drove around the corner coming home from work. As soon as she knew we were coming she would run, jump back into the fence looking out and waggle her nub of a tail at us as if to say "who me?, I wasn't chasing cars". When we tried to add another dog to our family, Annie would take the newcomer out to chase cars. Sadly, we lost several dogs to back tires of cars. We believed that she laughed and said, "Oh, I know this great game...watch me. OOPS, I forgot to tell you about the back tire!"
She was an unbelievably good companion. We loved her and always remember her. Our first anniversary was 35 years ago...my how time flies...and so many times I really miss my Annie!
Vicki, That's a great story. Thank you so much for sharing a memory of Annie.