The Dog Of My Life (Love Can Come Later)
Posted by: Denelle
Some of you have been so kind as to ask me about my dog. D'Artagnan is a 2 1/2 year old Shih Tzu. The first thing everyone always wants to know is how he ended up with his name. The short version of a very long process (and a view into how my mind works) is that I wanted to name him after an Emperor but not a Chinese Emperor, and I had a friend whose brother's name was Caesar so that was out, and my mom voted down my favorite Russian choice and so I gave up on Emperors and decided to go with something noble-esque instead. It was only after the fact that I realized my college mascot was the Musketeer (specifically D'Artagnan) and that just made it seem all the more perfect.
Since you'll be hearing about him a lot here (and usually with the words demon/monster or mutt attached) I thought I'd share a few pictures of with you. And yes, he definitely qualifies as a demon. Case in point, Saturday he was upset at being left at home while I did laundry and in retaliation he chewed up one of my favorite black dress shoes. Pure DEMON.
My mother should have let me name him Ivan the Terrible like I wanted to.
This was him during the massive snowstorm we got in February (I think). Brooklyn got about 22" of snow in a 24 hour period. Having been born in Southern California, this was the first time he'd seen snow.
As you can tell, he loved it.
On the days when he looks and acts like this, I love him. However, they are few and far between.
And this is his impression of a lion.
Shih Tzu's were initially bred by Tibetan monks as companions for the Emperor. And, as lions were considered mystical/magical creatures, the monks attempted to make Shih Tzus (which means lion in Chinese) resemble miniature lions. Which is why they look like the Fu Dogs (part dog, part lion) that sit infront of Chinese temples.
When he's evil, I tell him I'm going to sell him to the Chinese restaurant next door to our apartment. But I think he knows that he's safe. All of the Chinese people we know treat him like he's royalty.
D'Artagnan is rather large for a Shih Tzu (21 lbs) so he really does resemble a Fu dog.
Some of you have been so kind as to ask me about my dog. D'Artagnan is a 2 1/2 year old Shih Tzu. The first thing everyone always wants to know is how he ended up with his name. The short version of a very long process (and a view into how my mind works) is that I wanted to name him after an Emperor but not a Chinese Emperor, and I had a friend whose brother's name was Caesar so that was out, and my mom voted down my favorite Russian choice and so I gave up on Emperors and decided to go with something noble-esque instead. It was only after the fact that I realized my college mascot was the Musketeer (specifically D'Artagnan) and that just made it seem all the more perfect.
Since you'll be hearing about him a lot here (and usually with the words demon/monster or mutt attached) I thought I'd share a few pictures of with you. And yes, he definitely qualifies as a demon. Case in point, Saturday he was upset at being left at home while I did laundry and in retaliation he chewed up one of my favorite black dress shoes. Pure DEMON.
My mother should have let me name him Ivan the Terrible like I wanted to.
This was him during the massive snowstorm we got in February (I think). Brooklyn got about 22" of snow in a 24 hour period. Having been born in Southern California, this was the first time he'd seen snow.
As you can tell, he loved it.
On the days when he looks and acts like this, I love him. However, they are few and far between.
And this is his impression of a lion.
Shih Tzu's were initially bred by Tibetan monks as companions for the Emperor. And, as lions were considered mystical/magical creatures, the monks attempted to make Shih Tzus (which means lion in Chinese) resemble miniature lions. Which is why they look like the Fu Dogs (part dog, part lion) that sit infront of Chinese temples.
When he's evil, I tell him I'm going to sell him to the Chinese restaurant next door to our apartment. But I think he knows that he's safe. All of the Chinese people we know treat him like he's royalty.
D'Artagnan is rather large for a Shih Tzu (21 lbs) so he really does resemble a Fu dog.
