Finally heard back about Lucky; she had already been adopted. I was a bit bummed out about this (okay, a lot) but today we went to the Durham County shelter and saw several dogs who looked like good prospects. One was named Orlando, a name which would have to change because I'm just not going to have people thinking I named my dog after Orlando Bloom. I know, they might think it was the Virginia Woolf novel, but since the dog is male I'm afraid the assumption would be the actor.
The trick with renaming a dog who already knows his name is to pick a new name so similar to the old name that the dog will still recognize it. The best replacement name I could think of for Orlando was "Martin Landau." Wouldn't that be a cool name for a dog? We could call him "Landau" for short and he'd never know the difference.
Unfortunately we got to the Durham shelter near closing time, too late to visit with any of the dogs. But we have a short list of names for when we go back. Tomorrow we're going to the Orange County shelter to see if Jennie is still there and if she lives up to her description. Of course any actual adoption will have to wait until we get back from MD, but with the bad luck we've had lately, I'd put a deposit on a dog that we really liked, just to make sure it was still there next week.
In other dog news I had long talks with both Drs. Lindeke and Broussard, and decided to put Thirteen on the selegiline after all. Dr. Broussard is apparently something of an expert in cognitive disfunction in animals, and she said that if Thirteen were her dog she would try it. They said that the side effects really aren't as extreme as they sound. Some GI distress is likely, but Thirteen probably won't be projectile vomiting all over the place. Indeed, I started her on it this morning and she was completely normal. (Well, completely the same. If she were normal, we wouldn't need the drug.) The only difference was [grossout alert] when she peed on the floor, as she does every day while I'm at work, it smelled horrible.
I'm taking Thirteen to the vet's this weekend to be boarded, instead of the kennel. So they can keep an eye on her meds and watch for side effects. In my extremely selfish way, I'm kind of hoping that she has whatever GI problems she's going to have then, and gets it out of her system. Heck, they prescribed it, let them deal with the mess.
Good luck both with Thirteen and with finding a great new dog. I do like the idea of a dog named Martin Landau. "Panda" would also work but is nowhere as classy. I sympathize with you about caring for ailing animals, but we get off easier because Aimee Semple and MIllie pee in their cage.
What about Alejandro for an alternate name that sounds similar to Orlando?
I hope you find a dog that suits you soon, and that the meds help Thirteen.
I know what you mean about renaming. One of the cats we got from the pound was called Rocky, which we turned into Loki.
Duke really listened to his name when I got him, and although I'm not crazy about it I couldn't think of anything similar enough when I got him, so Duke it remained. Polly was named Kelly by the people at the shelter, but since she didn't seem to notice what you called her I just changed it into something I liked (she's actually called Pollyanna, because I thought she needed a more positive outlook on life).
Oh, and Finster (the ferret) was called Linden at the shelter, and although I didn't mind that name I found it too difficult to pronounce, it's just an uncomfortable word in the mouth.
LOL, I've just realized that all my animals apart from Moira at the moment are 'previously owned'.
The only thing vaguely similar to Orlando I can think of is 'Parlando' . But Landau would be good, I think.
Smoreland! (At least if he's brown and cream... ;-)