Inspired by Sawyer (on Lost)

Greetings,

I think I mentioned before that we are going through the first 5 seasons of the TV show “Lost” before diving into the last season.  We are about 2/3 of the way through season 5 now and getting ready to dive in to get answers to some of those unanswered questions.  One thing that we have really enjoyed (especially the son, who had never seen Lost before we started watching it again) is Sawyer’s nicknames for everyone on the island (especially Hurley).  I realized that I do have an incredible number of nicknames for each of our dogs…

The Nina List

• Muttley: Since she is a pure bred Doberman, this is a sarcastic nickname for sure.  I think I get this from the Dastardly and Muttley characters or maybe I remember them better from the Wacky Races cartoons.
• Grandma: This is a name we give her when she is coming out of her cage after having been in there for a while.  She moves so slowly that we refer to her as either Old Woman or Grandma.
• Heavy Head: Nina has this thing she does when she wants your attention where she presses her head into your leg.  If you are sitting on the couch she will come lay her head on your leg and then press down (with great force).  It is painful at times.
• Cochise: I don’t know much about this Native American chief but for whatever reason, I use this name from time to time.
• Nose: Nina tends to stick her nose in a lot of places (some quite undesirable as any dog owner can testify to).  She also has this way of sitting down where she leans way forward first with her nose then settles back onto her hind legs to sit down.  This is quite often done around the dinner table where leaning forward (nose stretched out) gives her a better whiff of whatever is for dinner.
• Coldwater: After the joke about dishes being “as clean as cold water can get them” (where the punchline is that the dog’s name is coldwater).  Nina actually drops saliva on the floor while I am eating over easy eggs since she knows she gets to do clean up duty.

The Oreo List

• Muttley Jr: An obvious choice as Oreo is a year younger (and 50+ lbs lighter) than Nina
• K-Floof: The first of many rapper names I have for this little, fluffy dog.
• DJ Floofy Jeff and the Floof Prince
• MC Floof
• Dr Floof
• Sir Floof-a-lot, etc
• Little Man: This is one the wife made up I think.  I don’t use it much.
• The Alarm: Named for his bark which (evidently) is not for scaring bad guys, but setting off an alarm for the big dog to come in.  This alarm goes off for various reasons including, say, discovering that a back pack has been placed on the couch unexpectantly (to him anyway).

I am sure I am missing a lot of them.  It is a wonder the remember their given names.

Despite my cruelty to them, both dogs prefer to be near me at all times, including in the morning (above) while drinking coffee and sitting on the couch.

Jon