Sunday, July 22, 2012

New Dog for Mike and Bonnie

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.

3 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

He's gorgeous! I'm leaning toward Zebulon - he looks very regal at your feet, but Zep is good! Can't wait to meet him!

July 23, 2012 11:01 AM  
Blogger chris said...

I think you should change it to Shep. You may recall the song that Dad sang about Shep. A real heart breaker.

July 29, 2012 9:03 PM  
Blogger Webmaster said...

All I can remember is the opening, which was not too auspicious:

"When I was a boy
And Old Shep was a dog . . ."

Did I get that right?

Where's it go then?

July 30, 2012 10:27 PM  

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