First day with the new dog.

Some of the names for the new dog that we have tried and rejected:

• Sparky
  
• Snoopy
  
• Lord Wafflebutt
  
• Stinky Boogers (thanks, Beck!)
  
• Snickers
  
• Hobbes
  
• Dumbass (well, we haven't completely rejected it, it's his default name)
  
• Foogerhead
  

None of these names were quite right, so we are still calling the dog Sonny, in theory, but mostly we call him The Dog.

I told Axel about the new dog when I saw him at work tonight, and he told me about a childhood friend who named his dog Patches, but the poor kid's father insisted on calling the dog Pinky Johnson. When I stopped laughing, I told Axel that is my pick for my dog's new name, and I'm going to start calling The Dog Pinky Johnson immediately!

I gave The Dog, I mean Pinky, a bath this morning with some dog shampoo I bought years ago, and for some reason never threw away. I tried bathing our sheepdog Babs once, and there is nothing on earth like the experience of hoisting a 100 lb dog into the bathtub and keeping her there against her will while she makes every effort to jump back out of the tub! I never washed my own dog again, but I still have the shampoo.

This dog is so good-natured and cheerful that he was perfectly okay with getting a bath, and he is easy to lift in and out of the bathtub, too! He smells much better now!

I got a crate and some dog bowls at the store this morning, and RA bought him a beautiful purple braided rope for playing tug-of-war. The Dog (Pinky J.) didn't seem to be familiar with tug-of-war, but he's catching on.