What’s in a name? Puppy watch 2013 is on

You people love your dogs, don’t you?

I toil away on my blog posts and then eagerly put them on Facebook and Twitter in hopes they will strike a chord with readers and maybe start a conversation. On a good day I might get 2 to 5 comments on the blog and/or Facebook.

We were having an ongoing family argument over what to name our new puppy last week, so I threw up a question on Facebook soliciting male dog names.  Do you know I got 43 responses… and they’re still coming in?!

You’re all crazy for canines!

Never having been a dog person, I didn’t realize how much people love to prattle about their pooches. Even a casual mention about entering puppyhood and I instantly have 3 iPhones in my face featuring scores of photos of dogs in various poses.

(Bow) Wow!

People who never say a word to me at work rushed to my desk this week to see a picture of my puppy online. I was at a party this weekend and my friend’s college roommate came running over breathlessly asking me if we’d come up with a name yet after reading my query on Facebook.

Humans really dig their dogs.

We were on the fence about female or male and after asking around I discovered there are good reasons to get both so we went with personality over gender.

2 weeks old

The breeder put up photos and a brief description of each dog’s characteristics and families got to choose which dog they wanted, in order of deposits paid. We fell for one, and had two backups, but all 3 of our choices were gone right away.

After some jockeying and emergency family meetings, we decided on the boy puppy with the white collar. Isn’t he cute?

Our breeder says he’s lighthearted, loves to play, curious, smart, and  happy-go-lucky. He’ll fit right in.

As for a name? Those Facebook responses suggested everything from the mundane (Brad, Norman, Steve)…to the traditional (Fido, Rufus, Buster, Spike) … to the cutesy (Smiley, Honey, Sassy) …to the personalized (GoBlue, Shea, Cougar — people know my boys like sports.)

One lady even suggested “Payphone.”

We went through a site full of names and finally agreed on Brady.

The boys liked it because it’s after Tom Brady, who played for Michigan, and Brady Hoke, the Michigan football coach. I liked it because it’s after the “Brady Bunch,” one of my all-time favorite shows.  (See my about page here for the story on how all my kids are named after pop culture characters.)

Brady at 4 weeks

So we have chosen and named our puppy.

Stay tuned for his arrival. Many more adventures to come.