Friday, June 27, 2014

What's in a Name?


Allow me to introduce you to my 8 month old Siberian Husky, his name is Loki. It occurred to me recently that naming a puppy is certainly a big deal and may require careful consideration. A new pet owner might strive to choose the right name that suits their puppies’ appearance, personality, sex, uniqueness, and breed.


The name Loki originates in Norse mythology, he was described by scholars as that of the Trickster God or God of Mischief. In my experience naming my new pup was a struggle, but Loki chose his name, and what an appropriate choice it was…

About a month ago I decided Loki was grown up enough to get a big boy bed. My neighbour has this really great bed for her dog that I decided I would buy for Loki. It’s large and plush and has a removable cover so it can be washed and is described as ‘indestructible’.

Excited, I headed out to the local pet store and made this fairly substantial purchase thinking this bed will last him YEARS and somehow he will appreciate that I purchased such a lovely INDESTRUCTABLE bed for him. Turns out he instantly took to his new bed. I spent about an hour with him, observing him with his newly claimed sleeping spot, and then headed out for work.

Now, I can’t exactly tell you what happened in the next 30 minutes… only Loki knows the truth, but I can speculate. At some point, and perhaps I attribute too many human qualities to Loki, but I believe a switch in the God of Mischief’s mind went off. I am certain as soon as he heard the front door close and my truck pull away, the wheels started turning and the Trickster God had a plan in mind. ‘Don’t tell me something is indestructible’ I imagine him thinking. Half an hour later, my roommate walked in to a destroyed indestructible bed, with Loki as the blue eyed center piece in the middle of a stuffing netherworld! There was no tail between the legs, no apologetic look on his face, no, he was grinning ear to ear, wagging his tail and proud of his accomplishment.

Needless to say it took my roommate just about as long to clean up the mess as it took Loki to methodically create it.

The next day I took the destroyed bed back to the store from whence it came, the store clerk looked at it and laughed. ‘What kind of dog do you have?’ he asked. ‘A 7 month old Siberian husky’ was my response; he immediately refunded me.

Remarkably Loki has not destroyed the $15 bed he had since I brought him home 5 months ago, and is quite content with its ‘destructibility’.

So what’s in a name you ask? In my case, amongst the 15 or so names I tried on him, Loki was the only one he responded to when called by said name.  Just goes to show you never know if a name will suit your dog or if your dog will suit his name. It seems that Loki has really grown into his, and this is just the start of our adventures…


Sheena Neel, Loki’s Mom

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