My family changed the name of our dog after we brought him home. Many years later I had to take him to the vet. I forgot his original name was on all the vet records. I told the receptionist his name was "Hershey." She told me that they did not have a Hershey on file. She said she had a "Peanut" on file. I paused a moment and said, "Oh yeah, that was his slave name!"

The receptionist was in tears laughing. I even heard the doctors in the back laughing!

Good times and a really good dog.

Back in my single days I had a Doberman adopt me, or at least my front porch. There was something she loved about that front porch. I came one one day and she was on my front porch. She was a smart dog, and loved to play. I ended up going to the store and buying some dog food for her and she loved my back yard. I expected someone to come claim her but after a week of asking the neighbors no one claimed her.

Of course I had no idea what her name was before. There was a Dentyne gum commercial that played constantly where the guy that just popped in some gum sees a pretty girl and says "Hello Betty" with a big grin. I named my dog Betty.

She seems to adapt to the new name with no issue.

When I mowed the yard and was stopping at the gate to push the mower into the front she would come running up and she would sit waiting for me to snap my fingers and say OK. She ran to the front porch, and knew to not get off the porch. I could fill the catcher bag, go empty it in the compost pile in the back yard and she sat waiting. When I shut down the mower when done with the front, she ran to the back yard know the front porch was off limits again.

She was a great dog that got a huge tumor on her leg that was cancerous. I had it removed and it grew back aggressively. It was one of the hardest things I ever did to have her put down.

Our current lab is names Jackie. She has one I and when I pointed that out to the rescue they got it.

Our first lab we found on the side of the road with a pup that had been hit by a car. We had no idea what her name was and no one claimed her at the pound so we named her Theresa since she was the mother dog.

Our beagle we should have named Son of Sheewana. He barks at the ground, the grass, the moon, the trees, the clouds, the house, the other dog, the birds the...

We had a stray that showed up on our doorstep in 1978. Just a mutt with a spaniel face. He graduated to the chaise lounge on the patio for home base and was happy with a can of Alpo & kibble every night. He was an outdoor dog, but on really cold nights he'd end up on a piece of carpet in the living room.

We brought the #1 son home from the hospital in 1980. I set the travel carrier down in the living room to introduce Brian to Murray (the dog). Murray saunters up and gave a big, sloppy lick to the baby's face. The wife is screaming, "get the antiseptic, the baby's been poisoned by that filthy dog." Murray looks up at everyone like, "what's up with the crazy lady...again?"

Murray could play baseball. He'd chase the tennis ball 50 feet across the yard & bring it back and drop it at your feet a few times. Then he would run to get the ball, stop, lift his leg, & pee on it. In dog, he was saying, "if you can't hang on to your damn ball, I'm done playing." And that was the always the end of that.

On trips to the beach in the Econoline, Murray always ended up "shotgun," head out the window, ears like supermans cape, much to the chagrin of the wife.

Murray raised the kids as his own to 3 & 4 years old. (They're 39 & 40 now.) Best dog I ever met.

appreciate the unexpected dog stories!!

great stories and great story telling!