What's in a name?

Our last meeting with Don and Donna was the Annual Kayaking meeting, which is always great fun. Don owns a kayaking business so we all get to take the puppies out for a spin. I'm going to miss this meeting quite a lot. It was a wonderful puppy experience and a bunch of work for them to put together. Thank you Don and Donna for doing this!

Some of you may think that I gave Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley her name based soley on the fact that it would make for a good blog theme.

Wrong. I'll explain why she got her name and you'll see her earn her name in the video at the end of the post.

When we got HRH, oh so many months ago, there was a sweetness about her, but also a bit of the tartar. Something a little demanding and authoritative.



You can see it in this photo. "Sure, take my photo, but you will pay for waking me from my nap!"



She was very demanding as in the above photo. "You want me to do what?" But what was also surprising about HRH is how much she loved to work. She took to obedience training and loved to learn commands. Her sit is divine and her switch a piece of art.



"Yes, I know you want me to move, but I am going to nap now. Perhaps at a later time?" She seems to be saying.

You can see, we walked a delicate line with her. We had to balance working with what her kennel master called her litter's "soft" nature (which meant essentially that she was afraid of everything) and not coddling her. It was tough. She's very pretty and sweet. And those eyes. We hung tough and I think we made a brave little queen out of her.

I hardly ever see a droopy, tucked tail. And that is why I think this kayaking video is so interesting. She doesn't like the water. She didn't want to get wet. But she knew I wanted her to get in the kayak and go kayaking with me and Keegan and Laurel (the other puppy).

So, she figured it out. (Big thanks to Keegan's mom Cheryl for taking all the video for us! Nice work.)




Perhaps, she should rule the world.