# how did you name your fur baby



## Piddle Place (Jan 28, 2015)

I see so many clever names here, what is the inspiration for your dogs name? I hate to admit it, buy Kippers was named for a stinky fish my husband would eat at breakfast. Glad to say my Kippers no long smells, I think my husband taken on that privilege.

What was your inspiration?


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## edelweiss (Apr 23, 2010)

Kitzel means "to tickle" or make one laugh---he brought me so much joy that it was the perfect name for him.
Liesl came from my Edelweiss handle---from the Sound of Music. 
Their spitz (shortened) names are Kitzi & Lisi because the Greeks could not say Kitzel or Liesl.


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## Smtf773 (Apr 8, 2015)

Edward is the name of a king. I thought he needed a big name! My rule is it must be a real name and not end in a vowel sound. His middle name is Francis after St. Francis of Assisi the patron saint of animals. I wanted St. Francis to always protect him.


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## jane and addison (Nov 1, 2012)

Our first Maltese ( a male ) was named Tinker by our kids in the 1980's. Belle reminded us so much of him we named her Tinker plus Belle. Petey got his name from Belle thus Tinkerbelle and Peter Pan.


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## Danielle*Lily (Dec 3, 2015)

Lily got her name from my late mother, who absolutely adored that flower and they're white and sweet looking, just like my Lily!


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## kd1212 (Nov 5, 2013)

I named my first dog Trevor after Trevor Jones the British composer simply because I thought it was a cool name--I had learned of him many years earlier and knew I'd want to name someone Trevor. After Trevor died and we brought Tyler into our lives, I knew that I wanted to honor Trevor and use the letter "T" for his first name. I used the first letter of all of those I lost to for Tyler's name. I knew that Tyler's middle name would be Liam, which represents my best friend Lisa, grandfather, grandmother, and my other best friend who died when I was 14. This is a name that I had put together in 2003 when my BF Lisa passed and swore that I'd honor my loved ones with the name Liam/Mila. As far as Tyler Liam, one night before Tyler came home, we threw around names starting with T and saying them aloud. When I said Tyler Liam, we knew. His AKC name is KIT'S TYLER LIAM JAC. KIT is us, Kim and Tony, and the JAC is in honor of my parents and Tony's dad who have passed (Jerry, Angelo, Carole).

Trissie follows my honor of Trevor with a name starting with "T." I did a lot of research on names beginning with T and fell in love with the meaning of Trissie, which is Latin means bringer of joy. It suits her perfectly. Her middle name is Mila, which is a mix up of Liam to honor those mentioned above. For her AKC name I'll do the the same, so it will be KIT'S TRISSIE MILA JAC


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## Barb J (Sep 17, 2015)

Keegan was adopted at age 4 and he answered to that so we kept it. Romi was originally Romeo when we rehomed him at age 7.
Gigi we kept her name when she was adopted and it fits her.
Dylan got his name from a Bob Dylan song we heard on the radio on our way home with him. He lives up to his name sake as he is a very vocal little boy. His AKC name is Dream Rhythm's Dylan. Dream from his mom and Rhythm from his dad.


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

Fifer was my first little white dog. When I took my brand new puppy to meet my favorite client, he laughed and said, "Is this Fifi?" I said,"No, it is a boy, his name is Fifer (pronounced Feefer.) I just made up that it was the male name for Fifi. I probably should have spelled it Fifir. From that moment he was Fifer.

When Fifer was old and sick, I used to sing him the song "Hang on Little Tomato," by Pink Martini. There is a line that goes..."sending rays of sunny love."

So, when Fifer went to Heaven we got a Ray of Sunny Love, we just call him Ray.

MiMi is short for Marilyn Monroe...my ideal of feminine beauty. Is could be Me Me, because the princess is so self centered.

Then, I got my perfect little white fluff and I named her Fifi. Well her full name was Shinemore Sugar Fairy. At the time I was obsessed with fairies. I was building a fairy garden, and her puppy name was Sugar, given to her by her breeders little girl. She immediately became Fifi. If anyone doesn't remember, that was the name of every cartoon frufru dog decades ago. So, while it was at one time a very popular name, I didn't know another Fifi.

As most members know, Fifi had a very short time on the earth, and I was devastated when she sprouted wings and flew to heaven. I was in such grief, I thought I would die. My only hope was to get another puppy right away. That puppy is Hope.


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## Tanner's Mom (May 27, 2005)

When I named Tanner, I went thru the phone book and wrote down all the names I liked. I narrowed it down to Tanner or Connor. Tanner won. I got Frankie when he was 2 years old. His name was CaraMia's Franco of Nicolai, call name Frankie. I liked it so I kept it. Jamie was LarMor's Paper Dove, but I changed her call name to Jamie Dove. Then there was Kelsey. Kelsey was Ch CaraMia's Marshmallow Sundae, call name Sundae. Sundae wasn't just rolling off my tongue so I narrowed his name down to either Lindsey or Kelsey. Kelsey won. I still have a list of names I really like cuz you just never know.


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## Polly's mom (Apr 29, 2013)

*Pollywogalina*

As a baby, my Granddaughter's favorite bedtime stories were the Froggy books. I don't remember the names. But, the main character had a baby sister named Pollywogalina. So Holly named her first doll Pollywogalina. So I named Polly in honor of my Granddaughter Holly's first doll.


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## boosiebutt (Jan 13, 2016)

Peanut was my first dog. I picked Peanut because it's a good small dog name and fit him well. He's a yorkie, and I think he coloring is peanutty as well.

Pixie was picked again for a small dog, a cute little girl name, and because it starts with P to go with Peanut.

Trying to pick out a name for my new puppy (to be picked up in April, yay!) is tough going. My sisters both are pulling hard for Buster, because they think it goes well with Peanut (due to Dairy Queen's Peanut Buster Parfait), but my Mom really doesn't like that name. And my mom and I live together, so...

Still considering!


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## sherry (Jan 4, 2013)

Riley got his name by process of elimination. It was on my first list of top ten and the only one DH liked. So I made many more lists and DH liked none of them so Riley got his name. Sissy came to me as an 11 month old Susie. I wasn't crazy about Susie but didn't want to confuse her, so Sissy was an easy change. In the past I've had a Bogart, Ceasar, Rocco and Chewey. But I won't go into all of that!


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## Matilda's mommy (Jun 1, 2005)

Matilda was named after the song "Waltzing Matilda " I have always loved that song and have sang it for years, sometimes I hold her and waltz around the room singing to my heart girl

Maddie's AKC name is " Jea Nick Madison Avenue Stephanie, "she was called Maddie.
She hardly new her name, I thought about calling her "Blessings", because she is our last fluff, still wish I would have, but hubby wanted her to keep her name:blush:


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Wow, what great stories.
It took me 9 months to find Tyler. And Tyler got his name via a strange route. I was going to adopt a dog and I saw the cutest one named Tyler. Thought he was going to be it. Well after we were approved he had already been adopted.  Kept looking for Maltese to adopt but none were right and then I found out about Tyler on Chrisman's web page. I couldn't call them fast enough and soon found out he would be mine. His name was....Elvis!!:w00t: Yup, the king. Well I never was much of an Elvis fan and didn't want everyone referring to it and explaining all the time so I decided to go with the name Tyler. Glad I did. His official name is Tip A Canoe and Tyler Too.


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## Matilda's mommy (Jun 1, 2005)

Snowbody said:


> Wow, what great stories.
> It took me 9 months to find Tyler. And Tyler got his name via a strange route. I was going to adopt a dog and I saw the cutest one named Tyler. Thought he was going to be it. Well after we were approved he had already been adopted.  Kept looking for Maltese to adopt but none were right and then I found out about Tyler on Chrisman's web page. I couldn't call them fast enough and soon found out he would be mine. His name was....Elvis!!:w00t: Yup, the king. Well I never was much of an Elvis fan and didn't want everyone referring to it and explaining all the time so I decided to go with the name Tyler. Glad I did. His official name is Tip A Canoe and Tyler Too.


 

Elvis:HistericalSmiley: I just couldn't imagine little Tyler being called Elvis, he's definitely a Tyler:wub:


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## LOVE_BABY (May 5, 2015)

*My Baby*

It's so much fun & so interesting hearing how all of the SM dogs came to have their names! When we first met him as a puppy, our sweet Baby:wub: was the runt of his litter & therefore very small, he was very timid, shy, needy & sad especially when we first brought him home. He needed a lot of babying then & still does now, and he is still quite timid & certain things scare him such as dark corners of the house like behind our furniture which he never wanders behind. He truly can be quite a baby at times in many respects. He is fragile with problem knees, a delicate body & sensitive spirit.

When we first got him we didn't name him right away {I heard this might be a Native American Indian tradition although I could be wrong about that & I have no idea what tribe{s} practiced that tradition}. I wanted to live with my sweet little puppy for a short while before naming him to get a feel for him first until his personality began to unfold even more, and wait until after he felt more comfortable with us to place a name on him. But from day one I had a gut feeling his name would wind up being Baby, & of course it did because it fits him! 

'By choice' Hubby & I don't have any 'skin kids', we only ever had a real desire for 'fur babies '{although in a Maltese's case technically they are 'hair' babies}. I have truly gotten my hearts desire with the fur baby of my dreams who is :heart:'Baby':heart:! {And also not to forget my dear sweet beloved :heart:Kar-Kar:heart: who is at the bridge waiting... Kar came with her name when I rescued her many years ago.}


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## maggieh (Dec 16, 2007)

My first Maltese was Samantha - Sammy for short, because her fuzzy little head reminded me of rock star Sammy Hagar. Sweetness is actually Sweetness Payton, named after Water Payton who was one of the greatest football players ever (his nickname was Sweetness).

Tessa had been named by Mary Palmer when I was first fostering her and the name seemed to fit. After I adopted her, I kept the name Tessa but I also call her Miss Ditka because her jaw looks like Chicago Bears coaching great Mike Ditka.


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

My first maltese, Archie. Stan is a bit of a grumpy old man and Archie Bunker was one of his favorites. (He actually prides himself as being like Archie Bunker).:blush: ....never mind, that's a whole other tread...
so any way after trying out a few other names, we ended up with Archie. I sort of envisioned the name with the Archie cartoon character. 

Abbey: Well, we had an Archie...I went through a million other names, like Veronica, Angel...etc...so a friend of mine made it a game. She called out letters of the alphabet randomly and I had to call out the first name that came to mind. When she said "A" - blurted out Abbey. ....wonder why not Angel??? Well anyway, we talked about that and so ....Abbey, it was. :wub:

Tinker: Tink was rescued (as an adult) from a filthy puppy mill that was raided and shut down. He was a "special" scaredy cat who slept for the entire first week we had him. He needed a fun, happy silly name. Tinker Toy seemed to be just the opposite of his past life, so that's why I chose that for him. ...btw, it's been 9 years and he's still a knucklehead. :wub:

Ava: Well, she was a maltese and quite beautiful. She needed a glamorous name. I went through the movie star names, etc. ...but with two other maltese with names that started with "A" ....Ava Gabor was the only one I liked. I know several people tried to talk me out of it. But I decided to stick with it. Her AKC name is "Angel's Adore Ava L'Amour". Thus...The A Team!

Mona Lisa: When I got Mona Lisa I wanted a small dog to show in the ring without all that grooming...:blush::blush:. The name the breeder had called her was Fergie. ...didn't like it...it wasn't her. I looked and looked at her, that dark coloring, those eyes...the name Mona Lisa was the only name that I kept coming back to. Now I hated the name Mona (alone), so I ended up calling her M'isa most of the time. :wub:

Chyna: This is a name that I had always loved and waned to name one of my dogs. This was my chance....my friend Elaine had just recently lost one of the puppies she had bred (at at couple of weeks old) she had named her Chyna. I felt awkward, but finally asked her if she minded. All was ok, so I have my Chyna, even though I had always envisioned a maltese with this name. :wub:










Cherish the memories and take lots of photos of your pups. Since this picture, I have lost Archie and Mona Lisa. It's so hard...but at least I have like a million pictures and memories...and my lap is still full of love. "Miss you, my children, run free and be happy, I'll see you again when the time comes".


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## elly (Sep 11, 2006)

My very first Maltese we named Edgar. My husband picked the name. He wanted a cool name. Next we added a Pom and named him Emmet. Our second Maltese a female we named Ellie. After we lost Ellie I wanted another female, I found a show breeder in Florida who had a 5 month female named Mercedes. My husband loved the name, me not so much. I couldn't think of another name that suited her so we went with Mercedes. I loved Whitney's name from the start, husband wanted to name her Bimmer. Her official name is TNT's At Witts End Whitney and I still love it!


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## pippersmom (May 21, 2012)

When we got Pipper he was the smallest puppy I had ever had. My daughter said he looked like a little pipsqueak so I took the "Pip" and lengthened it to Pipper because I think a 2 syllable name works better.


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## Bailey&Me (Mar 8, 2010)

I love naming my dogs after characters from my favorite shows, movies, books, etc. Bailey had been one of my favorite names that I first heard on a show I loved watching in high school, called Party of Five...and then later on another one of my favorites, Greys Anatomy. So that's where my Bailey got his name. 

I had a thread about trying to decide on Emma's name so some of you may remember where her name came from  I have a huge obsession with the show Friends. One of my favorite episodes is when Ross and Rachel have their baby girl and are trying to decide what to name her and finally pick Emma. I had loved the name Emma since then and always thought I'd pick that name for my first girl puppy. Well, when I got my puppy, she came from Carina (CloudClan) who names all her dogs with the letter C so I thought it would be nice to go with a C name. The C names I loved were Cosette (Les Miserables) and Charlotte (Sex and the City) but I kept coming back to Emma  Her registered name is CloudClan I'll Be There For You (Friends theme song). I loooove her name so much even now and I'm so glad I went with Emma


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## --Ash-- (Dec 14, 2013)

I let my kids choose: although I had veto power and final say. We are a major Disney family (always do something Disney related on vacation), my daughter is Frozen obsessed and my boys enjoy the movie as well. Their first choice grabbed me and I adored it, so Elsa had her name. Ironically, she came home during a winter snow storm - four hours of driving home with her through the snow. It was so fitting. 

My sweet Daisy was "Puppy" for the longest time and started answering to it, so I realized I had to name this poor dog. I finally went with my favorite flower - Daisy. When we brought her sister home, everyone wanted me to keep with the flower theme. She was solid black and many people wanted Dahlia or Rosie, but she became Ladybug. It was matured to Lady as she grew older (and she bonded with my mom and stayed with her after I married - Daisy was always mine). 

I love the idea of themed names, so odds are we will add another puppy in a few years and stick with the Disney/Frozen theme.


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## glo77 (Feb 10, 2015)

This is an easy and fun to share response. I adopted Patches 11 months ago now. Her name from the breeder was Barbie. I renamed her Patches as we are both patching up holes in each others lives. The breeder looked at me like "she doesn't have any holes" hah well I do not agree now and I did not agree then. Someone suggested that I give her a more fitting "maltese kind of name". Patches so fits us and our lives together. Patches it is and I love her lots.


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## Snowball Pie's Mommi (Oct 16, 2008)

glo77 said:


> This is an easy and fun to share response. I adopted Patches 11 months ago now. Her name from the breeder was Barbie. I renamed her Patches as we are both patching up holes in each others lives. The breeder looked at me like "she doesn't have any holes" hah well I do not agree now and I did not agree then. Someone suggested that I give her a more fitting "maltese kind of name". Patches so fits us and our lives together. Patches it is and I love her lots.


Glo, I especially love your story and how it relates to you and Patches. Patches is such a sweet and charming name ... I love it. :wub:

A "maltese kind of name"? That almost sounds kind of ... well, I don't know. LOL


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## glo77 (Feb 10, 2015)

Snowball Pie's Mommi said:


> Glo, I especially love your story and how it relates to you and Patches. Patches is such a sweet and charming name ... I love it. :wub:
> 
> A "maltese kind of name"? That almost sounds kind of ... well, I don't know. LOL


lol yes it does :blink: and thank you. She is a treasure to me.


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Lacie's name was actually Sophie but my dad who suffers from dementia always called her Casey after our first Maltese, so Lacie it had to be since they sound similar. He still calls her Casey and thankfully she responds to him.

Suki...I just loved. It means be-loved.

Mika~ her name was Moca so I wanted to find something she responded to. In reality, I should have named her fatso because the roly poly always wants to eat, she lives to eat


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

maddysmom said:


> Lacie's name was actually Sophie but my dad who suffers from dementia always called her Casey after our first Maltese, so Lacie it had to be since they sound similar. He still calls her Casey and thankfully she responds to him.
> 
> Suki...I just loved. It means be-loved.
> 
> Mika~ her name was Moca so I wanted to find something she responded to. In reality, I should have named her fatso because the roly poly always wants to eat, she lives to eat


Ha ha.....you didn't mention that you had to go through a thousand names to finally choose one....I have not forgotten :wub:


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## maddysmom (Mar 8, 2012)

Sylie said:


> Ha ha.....you didn't mention that you had to go through a thousand names to finally choose one....I have not forgotten :wub:


Ha Ha...daddy's dementia must be wearing off on me...it totally slipped my mind :blush:


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## MustangMama (Dec 17, 2015)

I wish I were clever to have come up with a more unique name. lol. Sophie was the first name that came to mind when my desire to have a maltese started. The maltese looks like a sophisticated dog. Then I thought when/if I got one, I would see what her personality was before naming her. When I found Sophie at the shelter, I had three days to wait before getting her. I pondered over Sophie, Sophia, Maggie, Molly and Mia. Once I got her, Sophie fit her. A few days later when I was calling her, Ann popped in my head. Don't know where that came from but it goes well with sophie.


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## Polly's mom (Apr 29, 2013)

maggieh said:


> My first Maltese was Samantha - Sammy for short, because her fuzzy little head reminded me of rock star Sammy Hagar. Sweetness is actually Sweetness Payton, named after Water Payton who was one of the greatest football players ever (his nickname was Sweetness).
> 
> Tessa had been named by Mary Palmer when I was first fostering her and the name seemed to fit. After I adopted her, I kept the name Tessa but I also call her Miss Ditka because her jaw looks like Chicago Bears coaching great Mike Ditka.


Maggie, that is such a wonderful tribute to Walter Payton!


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## Piddle Place (Jan 28, 2015)

*tickle*



edelweiss said:


> Kitzel means "to tickle" or make one laugh---he brought me so much joy that it was the perfect name for him.
> Liesl came from my Edelweiss handle---from the Sound of Music.
> Their spitz (shortened) names are Kitzi & Lisi because the Greeks could not say Kitzel or Liesl.


I can see where that cute nose of Kitzel would tickle me. Makes me smile Great name!


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## Piddle Place (Jan 28, 2015)

*Peanut and Buster*



boosiebutt said:


> Peanut was my first dog. I picked Peanut because it's a good small dog name and fit him well. He's a yorkie, and I think he coloring is peanutty as well.
> 
> Pixie was picked again for a small dog, a cute little girl name, and because it starts with P to go with Peanut.
> 
> ...


What kind of dog is "buster" it sounds like a tough name. I like Peanut and Pixie, they sound cute. I imagine a small Maltese Buster. When you call his name, HERE BUSTER, people cower in anticipation of a big Doberman, then in struts you little fur baby.


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## Piddle Place (Jan 28, 2015)

*3 's a crowd, I don't think so!*



The A Team said:


> My first maltese, Archie. Stan is a bit of a grumpy old man and Archie Bunker was one of his favorites. (He actually prides himself as being like Archie Bunker).:blush: ....never mind, that's a whole other tread...
> so any way after trying out a few other names, we ended up with Archie. I sort of envisioned the name with the Archie cartoon character.
> 
> Abbey: Well, we had an Archie...I went through a million other names, like Veronica, Angel...etc...so a friend of mine made it a game. She called out letters of the alphabet randomly and I had to call out the first name that came to mind. When she said "A" - blurted out Abbey. ....wonder why not Angel??? Well anyway, we talked about that and so ....Abbey, it was. :wub:
> ...


What a chair full of love! Happy faces like this, how did you get them all to be still for this photo? I unplugged my laptop, and walked around the office showing everyone. Too cute!


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## Piddle Place (Jan 28, 2015)

*Elvis*



Snowbody said:


> Wow, what great stories.
> It took me 9 months to find Tyler. And Tyler got his name via a strange route. I was going to adopt a dog and I saw the cutest one named Tyler. Thought he was going to be it. Well after we were approved he had already been adopted.  Kept looking for Maltese to adopt but none were right and then I found out about Tyler on Chrisman's web page. I couldn't call them fast enough and soon found out he would be mine. His name was....Elvis!!:w00t: Yup, the king. Well I never was much of an Elvis fan and didn't want everyone referring to it and explaining all the time so I decided to go with the name Tyler. Glad I did. His official name is Tip A Canoe and Tyler Too.


Hi Tyler, you are so lucky your mom changed your name. You sure don't look like a "hound dog, crying all the time" No Elvis here! To regal for that, but you look like you have the moves!


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

Piddle Place said:


> What a chair full of love! Happy faces like this, how did you get them all to be still for this photo? I unplugged my laptop, and walked around the office showing everyone. Too cute!


Thanks, they are used to having their picture taken. I am obsessed with them.


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## CorkieYorkie (Apr 10, 2012)

We came up with Ozzie after having a hard time coming up with names! He was so scared that it was funny naming him after the prince of darkness haha. Although I spell it wrong! 

Lisa left eye is the name lisa came with since she only had one eye, we kept it because my husband liked it. 

Lucky because we got him right around St Patrick's day and we felt very lucky to have been chosen to give him a home.

My parents Yorkie we named Tiger because of Tiger Woods! Pre-affair!!!


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## Snowball Pie's Mommi (Oct 16, 2008)

I was very close to my grandparents. I was my Pop-Pop's Snowball. No other grandchild was given that name. I don't know why ... but, they always told me I was their favorite grandchild. Maybe because I loved spending so much time with them. 

My Pop-Pop loved to take me places like carnivals and bingo games and a special ice cream sundae shoppe. I can still hear him laugh when I would always choose the cotton candy at a carnival. And, how he would always laugh because I always won something playing bingo. And, the ice cream parlor ... he would always order me an ice cream sundae with chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, marshmallow topping, and the maraschino cherry on top. He loved watching me enjoy the sundae ... and, as always, I can still hear his infectious laugh. 

The last time I saw my Pop-Pop was in my 30's and right before he died. He would still always affectionally call me his Snowball. I was always his Snowball. It was just the way he said it ... with so much love and joy in his voice.

So, because of the love I felt with that ... I decided I wanted to call my gorgeous white fluff baby ... Snowball. And, the name fits Snowball perfectly. He makes me laugh and feel the deep affection and love for him ... just as my beloved grandfather felt for me.


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