If At First You Don't Succeed

Wise Words: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.



Those of you who faithfully follow our blog will remember that about a month ago I posted a sad post about the tragic demise of our sweet puggle, Jasper. We've been sad without him and life just hasn't been the same. So yesterday when I saw that a family wanted to give away their puggle (because their backyard isn't fenced)I called them right away. We arranged to meet them halfway and came home with another adorable puggle. He looks a lot like Jasper, though he's a little fatter and much more docile. He even has the same curly tail. I like that he's not so hyper and jumps up on you and nips at you, but Jasper's energy was lots of fun too. Another positive asset to this new dog is that he didn't fart in the car even once...the whole way home. An entire hour. My previous experience has taught me that this is practically a miracle. Needless to say, I was super impressed. So impressed, in fact, that I've now shared this precious memory with everyone on the world wide web.



Our new dog is a year and a half old and already neutered, which is nice. He has been going by the name Jackson but we are changing it because Garrett's middle name is Jaxon and we didn't want our son to experience any identity confusion. Plus it's fun to pick your own name for a pet. So..drumroll please.

After much deliberation and a bit of compromise we have chosen the name Gryffindor Blade Chappell.

Gryffindor, of course, is from the Harry Potter books. (I've convinced my children that J.K. Rowling is the epitome of literary genius.) Also, Puggle rhymes with Muggle. It seemed like a sign. Or at least close enough. We will be calling him Gryffin for short. A Griffon is a magical creature that is a mix between a lion and an eagle. In Greek Mythology and later literature it is often portrayed as the guardian of a treasure. Since a puggle is a mixed breed we thought it was appropriate. Also, another sign, Lion/Eagle and Pug/Beagle rhyme. We're hoping Gryffin will be the guardian of our back yard. He can protect our woodpile and sand toys. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!

Blade was chosen by Tyson. He likes violent names (i.e. Slash, Talon, Claw, Ripper). He wanted to name one of our children Gunner. This is precisely the reason why I named all of our children myself. Though he did pick Drake's name...but only because I approved of it first. He thinks he picked Alexis' name too, but I totally tricked him into that one. But I digress...

And of course Gryffin's last name is Chappell because we're hoping he'll be just like a member of our family. We'll even be getting a new family picture with him in it soon.



Wish us luck tonight though. He has been accustomed to being a house dog and is in for a rather rude awakening!