Consider Yourself One of the Family

I am sure you have not noticed this at all but as I live with our pets and get to know them, they start to become characters to me.  If a pet earns a nickname or has been assigned a role or character in our household, they are officially part of the family.    The roles can be stereotypes or characters I have seen on TV and I couldn't tell you where or when these characters entered my conscious state but I have a heck of a time living with them as my pets.  When a pet gets a nickname/character, this means they are in no danger of being given away and I will walk through fire for them (but please don't make me do it!)

Our little grey cat Rose who runs the house and tells us all what to do is in my mind a short bossy Mexican woman.  As she stalks around the house, she becomes Rosita pronounced with a rolling 'r' and the 's' like a 'z'.  Often the song "I'm feeling hot, hot, hot"  is part of the exchange which all seems to work for Rose as she snaps her tail at me as though to say "yes I am" as a part of this discourse.

Our yellow lab Monty is a dude who wears his pants just below his buttocks.  Monty rolled into that role because he waddles just like those poor boys out on the street who just cannot seem to get their pants up over their buttocks.  I earnestly explain to Monty whenever I can that if he would just pull up his pants, he would find walking alot easier.

Stella has become Stella Louise, a name she just adores.  She has this happy bouncy "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it" message that is really exaggerated whenever Louise is added to her name.  As she bounces higher, I will express concern that if she bounces too high, her spots might fall off.  This usually results in Stella immediately sitting down and checking her body as though that might actually happen. (OK she's itching but let me live my fantasy please).
And the list goes on.  I live with my merry cast of characters and while I am sure it sounds utterly insane, it is a whole lot of fun.

The pet evolving into a character is something that just seems to happen.  There is no timeline just suddenly one day I tell Monty to pull up his pants and in my mind he has become the dude.  And I usually cannot even recall the day it happened.  It is just the new reality and means you are now part of our crazy cast of characters.

That is how one day I found myself referring to Austin as Pistol.  I believe I mentioned before that Austin barks alot.  His bark is quite sharp and I often cannot predict when it will happen.  A pistol to me has always represented a dangerous weapon with a sharp loud retort...hello Austin.  I like to say the word pistol by drawing out the 'o' which Austin seems to just love often resulting in a sharp loud retort from him. 

Daisy is an interesting animal.  She is built like a barrel and can be very slow to get moving.  But this all quite deceptive because once she gets going - watch out.  I still remember my oldest son coming back from a walk with her that had built up to an all out run at speeds that were apparently quite remarkable.  So one day I was surprised  to find myself calling her Diesel.  The nickname seemed to fit though.  She is slow to start and often needs to idle a bit before going but when she gets going she is a powerhouse just like a diesel engine.  We have all come to respect the might of Daisy.

Welcome to the family Pistol and Diesel!