"Fluffo did it"

We had a rather whacky little West Highland Terrier; we had her in London, Madrid, Milan, London again and Johannesburg. She was a rough little girl; our youngest daughter was the only one in the family she never attacked. Her name was Fluffo. Yes, the kids named her.

She would walk around the house and suddenly notice a chair that had been there for years, do a double take, and attack it. She then would act embarrassed and walk away like nothing happened. If she could’ve whistled, she would have. I told you she was whacky.

Our eldest daughter was between 3 and 4 and she could write her name, sort of. She was very proud of this (so were we) and she wrote her name on every piece of paper she saw.

One day I saw her name on the wall about 3 feet up, just about her height.

I asked her if she did it, giving her a chance to fess up. She looks me straight in the eyes, and says “No."

OK, who did it I ask her.
“Fluffo did.”
No hesitation.
Why would Fluffo write your name on the wall, I ask her?
“She doesn’t like me.”
Straight face, no hesitation.
How did she reach this high?
“She pulled over a chair.”
How do you know?
“I saw her.”
Why would she do that?
“She doesn’t like me," she insisted.

Anything I asked she had an answer; usually it was “Fluffo did it."

Now, if Fluffo could have, she would have, she had that kind of personality. I am afraid she didn’t do it; our daughter seemed like a born liar, a real pro.

We worried about it, we admonished her for the wall, she stood her ground, all the time she was insisting it was Fluffo,
“Fluffo did it!”
I almost believed her, knowing that dog.

She is OK today, doesn’t lie, at least she doesn’t blame Fluffo.

We had lots of pets over the years, and they traveled with us to many countries.
One the first pets we had was in London, it was a parakeet.
We asked our son to name it; he must have been 3 yrs old.
He was very excited and immediately said Forty-two! We looked at him and suggested that maybe he could find a more appropriate name, Tweety, Birdy, or something like that.
He looked at us and thought for a moment, he agreed that Forty-two was a silly name for a bird.
We waited, and he looked up and said, “Let’s call him Forty.”

That was it, the bird was Forty, and actually it was a pretty good name.

Naming pets has always been a family affair. We have had a black Lab called Ouzo; a rescue dog named Blue, he was black and wearing a blue collar when he appeared - out of the blue! Lupe Velez was a beloved mutt we had for years, found in a Mexican Park. She loved Greece; she would stroll around Kolonaki, like she owned it.
There is Moose, Layla, Ollie, Cookie and there was Tula, Spike, Fluffo, Tin-Tin and Fuzzy Wuzzy. I am sure there were more; I even made mistakes and called the kids by the dog’s names and vice versa.

We have even sent dogs to the States, Fos, Kallie and Blue.

The naming of Forty was by far the most memorable, Forty-two was a silly name, but not Forty.

He never lied, or wrote on walls.