Name Calling

I was just having an idle chat with Becky yesterday and our conversation drifted to the retro cartoon, M.A.S.K. We started throwing out names of the various cool vehicles - raven, condor, rhino, thunderhawk (I heart Matt Trakker!) etc. When Becky mentioned V.E.N.O.M (the baddies), I suddenly thought that "Venom" would make a good name for a dog.

I swear I'd get a mean-looking Rottweiler or Belgian Shepherd (or one of those mongrels with a menacing look) next time and name it Venom. Or Blade. Or Razor. Or Razorblade. Cool huh?

I've always wanted a super-masculine dog but that idea somehow got threw out of the window when I got Chester. Chester just doesn't belong to the category of mean, teeth-baring dog, which is not such a bad thing i suppose. But don't be fooled by his warm and affectionate disposition because he can get mad too! In fact, I think Chester's character actually takes after mine. Like me, he is usually tolerant of all sorts of crap and bullshit but when provoked beyond his limit, it's usually straight into BITE mode. We both don't believe in barking to warn others that we're about to retaliate!

Like mistress like dog, they say! But i must admit Chester's hair looks more well-maintained than mine! Haha.

When we first got Chester, we had a whole list of names to choose from:

1) Winter - because it was winter at that time.

2) Evo - after Steve Vai's precious axe and his evolution pickup.

3) Evol - alternate version of Evo, and when spelt back to front = love

4) Nova and some others I can't remember.

I was adamant about choosing a cool name (to me la!) like Thunder, Breeze, Storm etc. that had some reference to speed. After all, Border Collies were best known for being manic, ball-chasing Ferraris. In the local Border Collie scene, there was already a Blue Storm and a Black Diamond. How cool is it if Chester had been named Red Blaze?!

Anyway, Chester was named Chester because Dan was looking at some book which had the name of some county/city/or whatever in the States, which incidentally was Chester. So there, my red and white Border Collie puppy was thus christened. We both thought he looked like a Chester, whatever a 'Chester' is supposed to look like!

And no, we didn't name him Chester because he's brown and resembles a Chestnut. DUH.

This whole name thing is really intriguing. I'd really love to know how everyone else's pet was named! I'll write about how Cocoa was named, but some other time perhaps.

For now, some cute pictures of my favouritest dog in the world!

At 5 weeks old:

Baby Chester
Originally uploaded by manniqueen.

At 3 months old:

I'm listening, Mum!
Originally uploaded by manniqueen.

At 5 months aka gawky looking teenager stage (too long limbs and too short hair!):

I need to grow more hair!
Originally uploaded by manniqueen.

At 2 years old, definitely more confident and self-assured:

Birthday Boy , Originally uploaded by manniqueen.