I have to stop myself from saying "My dog? Meet 'Rack'!" or some such.
Meet Rack, sounds like a bar.
But like any "unusual names", there is a bit of a story behind it.
My old dog, Lettie, R.I.P. named him, long before he was even born.
Since by coincidence, Rack was picked up by The Dog Liberator from the vet's office he was surrendered to on the day Lettie went to sleep, I was looking for a connection.
The Dog Liberator had him listed as "Les Paul", and Mr Paul's music being of an earlier era wasn't really all that familiar to me. He came to them as Jake, and that made me uncomfortable since this dog was a very shy and fearful dog. Why honor that connection by keeping that name?
Lettie was named after the Animal Control officer that realized that a dog as beautiful as she was belonged in a No-Kill rescue so she'd get a second chance. Her name was Paulette. I liked the connection there and kept it.
But Lettie was a quirky dog. She had certain things about her own personality that would trip off at odd times and we learned to live with them.
Like most dogs, she'd bark at the TV for a while until she realized that it wasn't real. Dogs on shows had her confused. Cats would set her off. That sort of thing. She had a lot of amusing triggers. Since I was a fan of animal programs, I'd have that on a lot, so she had a lot of chances to bark at the tube.
I also like to cook and bake. When I make Biscuits, I start with cream and churn butter in the Cuisinart.
One day I was in the kitchen, and realized that I needed a second baking rack to put something into the oven, so I asked for some help.
"Hey, could you get me that rack?"
"Sure, but what's with Lettie?"
"Dunno, lets watch..."
So I narrowed it down.
The word "Rack" would set her off as if she was being called. In fact, it was like being ordered to come to attention. We had our ideas, it could have been that she was abandoned by a former military person when they were sent to Iraq. She could have been called Raquel.
Beautiful dog, who knows?
It was one of those little mysteries we never found the answer to.
But we did joke with each other that it might make a good name for the right dog.
Rack! Here, boy!
So last week I started looking online at dogs. We did manage to find a couple dogs that looked like they could have some Mc Nab blood in them, but both were adopted. We were about to give up when an aside comment by me to Gisele at The Dog Liberator about Les Paul being a beautiful dog set the wheels in motion.
I thought he was up in Perry County, Georgia, about 700 miles away and said that it was a shame he wasn't closer.
Gisele said "He's here in Deltona. He Needs You.".
We were sold. This dog was one who looked like he had Mc Nab blood in him, and when I finally met him we were convinced that if he isn't a purebred, he's mostly Mc Nab. His story was a familiar one, intelligent dogs like Mc Nabs, as well as Border Collies, Aussie Shepards, and other herding breeds are driven quite crazy in a shelter. They tend to fold up and go into shock. My first view of Les Paul was this black and white dog curled up in a ball in the corner of a white concrete block shelter cell.
Clearly, he needed our help.
So we agreed to see if he'd like to come home with us. That was on Saturday, and he had a visit with the vet on Tuesday so that weekend was out. We all felt that he needed a week to de-stress and figure out where his head was at so that gave us time to think things through.
The entire next week, we prepared all the usual background items. Dog Mats, Crates, a bag of Food, harness, and collar made it to the house. We still didn't quite like the name, it really didn't ring true with us.
We still had "Rack" but we weren't sure if we were serious about naming a dog after a baking rack and a dog's reaction from time gone by.
It eventually stuck. I kept referring to him as Rack without realizing it. I guess the name adopted him as well.
Now he's here, in Wilton Manors. He's got his big grey crate that's in view of our big green chairs. He has a home. A Forever Home, and we take that seriously. And a name.
Given to him by our Dearly Departed, Lettie.
His name is Rack.
Sure, it's unusual and a bit silly but it is his.
Rack. Welcome Home, Rack.
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