Nameless No More

My grand-dog has finally earned a name and a fine name it is even though it made me think of Mongo (fictional planet in the old Flash Gordon series) or mungo beans or mango. But that's OK. Mungo is a fine name. Here's what my son, Jon e-mailed me from New Mexico:

"The dog now has a proper name.

It's a name that I'd thought of a long time ago, but it didn't seem like a good fit for this dog. It's Mungo, after the Scottish explorer/traveler Mungo Park. I've always wanted a dog that I could name Mungo. Mungo Park was the first westerner to see the Niger River. What sealed the deal: according to Sarah's dictionary, Mungo means "reclaimed wool of poor quality." That seems very appropriate for this stray who was picked up on a reservation. He used to be so timid that it seemed ridiculous to name him after an explorer. He is not timid anymore and is mostly happy and energetic although he has been having a lot of accidents.

The gate idea initially worked. Yesterday, not so much. While we were gone, he knocked down the gate and pooped ALL over the dining room. I mean all over it. I'm not sure why he moved around so much while he was doing it, but I guess he likes to spread it around. I used a ton of carpet cleaner and half a roll of paper towels cleaning it up. We should have just kept Topcat."

I see that my grand-dog has a lot of learning to do. I'll have to tell Jon and Sarah to check out Dez's blog, Glass Half Empty-Taking It One Step at a Time. Her puppy, Piper is a handful, too.

Hmmmm.... this is interesting. My granddaughter and grand-dog are being toilet trained at the same time! Maybe they should put pull-ups on Mungo, too.