A Dog's Name

[Koira at 6 wks old, April 2006]

We have a dog named Koira. "Koy-ruh" is the Sami word for "dog," but some days I wonder if we should have chosen some other name for her.

We could have named her "Vacuum." If you doubt me, come over and watch her some time. She sits behind my chair at dinner, because she knows that with a baby in my lap, I tend to drop things. She also follows me around the house, because she knows that every so often the baby will spit up some mostly undigested milk, and she likes this. She seems so intent on licking up the spit-up that my darling husband has even been known to call her over for a clean-up job...and she delightedly obliges.

Or maybe we should have named her "Foot Warmer." Alright, I confess I taught her this one...whenever I sit on the couch, she comes and sits on my feet. She's warm and soft and very gentle, and makes a great foot warmer.

We could have named her "Psycho Energetic Ball of Love" because she barks her head off if someone comes near the house, but would never hurt a soul intentionally... She has so much energy that she tends to knock over children with her exuberance; yet she will jump to take a treat from my hand with such gentleness that I have never feared a bite.

We could have named her "Mudball" for her backyard antics, or "Beautiful Devoted Obedient Mutt" for the way she will lay in our bedroom doorway patiently waiting for us to come out and play, but will not come in because she knows she is not supposed to.

But I guess we did name her all these things. After all, isn't that what makes up a dog?!