On our return from our Orcas Island vacation today we swung southwest from the Indy airport to Cloverdale to pick up a new dog, a 7-month-old Australian shepherd named Zep, pictured below. His owners just found his energy and puppiness a bit more than they bargained for. I was concerned from pictures they'd sent to Bonnie that he was, well, goofy looking, but seeing him in the flesh I realized it was the photography, not the dog. He is very handsome--striking I think. The blue eyes (that can give him a crazed look at times) is typical of the Blue Merl coloration pattern in Australian shepherds, which I think is cool. Bonnie' sister Linda has had two of these dogs and they've worked out well for her. Zep puked on the way home and seems to have fleas (we gave him a flea bath tonight which he absolutely hated). He's pretty well freaked out tonight and has bonded with me, sleeping at my feet now after a very long day.
I don't like the name Zep; it doesn't seem to have any discernible logic. Bonnie likes the narrative that it is short for Zeppo, a fourth Marx brother who was in only a few of early films; I fear it refers to Led Zeppelin. I'd prefer to modify it to Zeb and consider it short for the Biblical Zebadiah or Zebulon. You can help determine which version sticks by whether you sound the final consonant when you come to visit.
