Actually that's not her real name, when she came to us a few weeks before this picture was taken, her name was 2Paws, and even though she does sport a wicked pair of polka dot socks in the front end, I just couldn't see yelling " 2 paws, 2 paws " out the door every night. And shortening that to TP was totally out of the question.
So we ended up giving her a name that's in line with her heritage, hard to spell, but sounds pretty, just like she is. Supposedly it means "New" in some Native American Indian language that wasn't really specified in the internet search for Indian names.
So why a native name?
Well 2Paws is a rescue dog, from Fort Albany, on the shores of James Bay, and she was brought to us through the good work of Moosonee Puppy Rescue in Bracebridge, Ontario.
She was born there to parents unknown, and that, if you haven't quite figured it out yet by looking at her, would make her a pure bred Mutt ( the BEST dogs ever BTW ) By the time she finally made it to Bracebridge, she had for sure already had one litter, delivered on someones porch at 40 below. Her puppies made it onto the next train out of town, but she was MIA. For a long time people thought that she might have been killed in the last "population control effort" ( they have no access to spay or neuter, so gun it is ) but she re-appeared just in time for the next train, and then just minutes before she got rounded up for the trip...............well, dogs being dogs, and no one really owning them, and nature being what it is............well the chances were very good that she may be making the trip with a few extras, along with a torn ear and a sore paw.
So I came across MPR, as usual, through an internet search. I had found other dogs from other rescues, but was having no luck at all, with not living within 40 km of them or not having a fenced yard....hey we have 8 acres, of dog heaven, with a river running through it, so fencing any of that would either be impossible, unaffordable, or the equivalent of a kennel, which is not why I wanted to get another dog here.
So when I found Sharon and Paul at MPR, I asked them to just come down here and see what we have to offer a dog, and then let me go back up to see them and pick out the dog............a German Shepard mix was what I was looking for. ( I love shepards, but it's been a really long time since I've met one that I could warm up to..........hence the idea of getting one that was a little "diluted" so to speak )
They agreed to that and then asked if they could bring one dog in particular, 2paws, to come "visit".
............I never did make that visit up to them to go pick my dog.
She arrived here for her visit, just getting over having her second litter weaned and yet still very much sporting the "MOM" figure, but her little ones where off to new homes and she was just starting to work on getting her figure back.
So it was agreed that she would come to stay here, her new forever home, but there were just a few days worth of details to finish up. Somewhere in those few days, another train arrived with more dogs for Sharon and Paul, and the latest arrivals included a litter of pups. Well that put 2paws right back into "mommy mode", just like us, when we're new mothers and we hear someone else's baby cry............unpredicable things happen.
Sharon did call and ask if we still wanted her..............well of course we did. Besides, the only way to end this cycle for her was to get her away from crying babies, so she arrived, full up and dripping everywhere.
At that point we were happy to have not gotten the new furniture yet.
Not having a kitchen with a sink or cupboard doors, or even closet doors installed yet, well those are all things that we wished we'd gotten around to sooner rather than later after spending a few days with BatGirl.
But seriously, we could not be happier with her ( she's sitting under my desk right now as I type this, eyeing me........) so I got my Shepard mix...............a little light on the Shepard, very heavy on the Mix !!
