Mon 4 Dec 2006
Timothy has always been a dog lover.
When he was about 6 a friend gave him the Usborne book Understanding Dogs. Feeling rather blue about our disobedient dog Weatherby, Timothy mused, “I wish we had an understanding dog.”
Later as a young teen he spents hours pouring over a used book we had picked up by German dog trainer Koehler. He prefaced every sentence with, “Koehler says…”
Therefore, it was no surprise when he asked to get a dog for Alex and Andrew. I was a little miffed that they named the dog on the way home. It is true that they spent their childhood apologizing to visitors for our dog Weatherby’s name. I frequently heard the boys say to visitors, “My mom named him.” But I love to name dogs. I think I might have named the dog John Carmichael but they named him Achilles.
Poor little Achilles has been welcomed with so much joy and love I fear for his life. He is very cute in an ugly sort of way.
Anyone want to guess where I got the names Weatherby or John Carmichael?
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Awwwww, what a cutie! Is he a boxer? I like the name the kids gave him. A very “strong” name.
I have no idea where Weatherby or John Carmichael are from, and I won’t cheat and google them and then act like I knew! lol But I’ll google them after posting this since I’m too impatient to wait on someone else to answer.
Comment by Kim (December 4, 2006 @ 9:50 am )
Achilles is adorable! Oh, look at that face. Whenever I see a dog, I want one. Even now. But I have only to look outside at the 16 inches of snow and be so glad I don’t have that responsibility.
Comment by lady laura (December 4, 2006 @ 10:05 am )
Achilles is very cute!
What a nice big brother.
Comment by Janet (December 4, 2006 @ 10:37 am )
He is so cute! The picture is priceless, isn’t it? Will he be an inside dog or an outside dog? Or both? We have an inside/outside white boxer. My hubby and children adore her! I adore watching them with her. : ) I think it is nice for children, boys especially, to have a dog.
Are you enjoying the cold weather here?
Comment by Laura (December 4, 2006 @ 1:24 pm )
I thought Weatherby was from Jane Austen, but apparently I was thinking of Willowby. My roomate said it was from Harry Potter, but I really doubt that. She’s crazy and Italian so we’ll forgive her for suggesting it.
Anyway, its a cool name wherever it is from. I like it.
Comment by Michelle (December 4, 2006 @ 1:40 pm )
James, James, Morrison, Morrison, Weatherby George…
Doing that from memory…
Mandy
Comment by Mandy (December 4, 2006 @ 2:19 pm )
Well, to tell the truth I don’t think you can google the names. I can only think of one blogger who might actually guess and one friend who knows why we named Weatherby.
Both are from children’s literature for those who still want to try.
One is what a boy named Sam named his dog in a certain book and one is from a poem.
Comment by Cindy (December 4, 2006 @ 2:20 pm )
Took great care of his mother though he was only 3…
Our comments crossed, Mandy, but you are right!
One of my all-time favorite AA Milne poems.
I named the dog Weatherby because I had just named my baby James and for some reason I kept saying James, James, Morrison, Morrison to him and then finally I ended up just calling baby James Weatherby. I decided we better name the dog that to spare the baby who isn’t a baby anymore…..well, not usually anyway.
Comment by Cindy (December 4, 2006 @ 2:23 pm )
I love that puppy!!!In the future,I hope that he will keep better company;). So who will do the dog training fun stuff? Did Timothy hand the book down to the little fellas? right now,Sarah has the dog in our family(98lb of dog);but I’m wanting another dog, if the right one comes along, for the boys. Maybe a beagle that they could use for hunting? hmmm… Speaking of which, they are out with their dad right now doing the Bambi thing.
:twisted:Take care and have fun.
Comment by terri (December 4, 2006 @ 4:37 pm )
98lbs I am sure that is more than Sarah weighs.
Your girls aren’t killing Bambi, are they?
Timothy is training the dog and his little brothers at the same time.
Comment by Cindy (December 4, 2006 @ 4:40 pm )
Weatherby I know immediately. Mandy left out Dupree. Also one of my favorites, and I can quote nearly all of it from memory (I love ‘King John put up a notice: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed. James James Morrison’s mother seems to have been mislaid…’).
I do all that bragging to alleviate my humiliation that I do not know John Carmichael.
I do, however, recognize Jerome Jerome.
Comment by deputyheadmistress (December 4, 2006 @ 5:01 pm )
Ok, since the DHM doesn’t know John Carmichael then I can assume the rest of you don’t either.
John Carmichael comes from Chapter one of Penrod Jashber The New Pup. I wouldn’t have remembered that either except that after the dog was brought home Timothy sat us all down and re-read that chapter which gave us all a Penrod craving. And amazed us by how similar it was to our conversations earlier in the day.
If you have never read Penrod, Penrod and Sam or Penrod Jashber they are hilariously funny. As a warning they sometimes reflect the pre-PC racist values of the man from Indiana Booth Tarkington. Read them out loud in order to discuss anything that might offend your family but please don’t miss Penrod. He is the quintessential pre-pubscent boy.
Penrod is the boy that lives at your house.
Comment by Cindy (December 4, 2006 @ 6:18 pm )
Well, I wrote Dupree but then thought it looked funny, even though it sounded right. That is one of my faves, too.
Speaking of dog names, our adopted black lab was named simply “Chester” when we got him. The boys immediately stated that his real name was Winchester (the gun maker) and we were calling him Chester for short. Boys and dogs, I love’em.
Comment by Mandy (December 4, 2006 @ 6:18 pm )
DHM,
Are you suggesting we should have named the dog Montmorency (sp?)?
Comment by Cindy (December 4, 2006 @ 6:19 pm )
That is such a sweet picture.
(Sorry — I have nothing intelligent to say about the literature aspect of the post!)
Comment by Ruthanne (December 5, 2006 @ 12:09 am )
Ditto, Ruthanne’s!
Comment by Dana (December 5, 2006 @ 5:54 am )
Hey! OK, so I already knew why you named him Weatherby…but I could have guessed!
Comment by Linda (December 5, 2006 @ 9:40 am )
And I always thought it was from that one poem…something like “whether the weather be cold or whether the weather be…” and so on. I thought it was a play on the phrase “weatherbe”.
Comment by nick (December 5, 2006 @ 6:20 pm )
Whether the weather be good,
or whether the weather be not.
Whether the weather be cold,
or whether the weather be hot.
We’ll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.
You know we always laughed about Weatherby when we read that poem but it wasn’t the reason I named him Weatherby.
Who would have thought that even poor old Weatherby would have made the blog.
Comment by Cindy (December 5, 2006 @ 7:02 pm )