What's In a Dog Name?

Although our home is currently pet-free, my childhood was filled with many beloved animals. Growing up we always had multiple pets at any given time - a dog and a few cats. Regardless of what name you eventually choose for your pet, there is always a good story behind how the name came about. My family got their first dog when I was a newborn, so I reached out to my mom to learn more about how she decided on his name.

Fritz, circa 1992

When I was just three months old, my family moved from the Bronx up to Westchester County. Since the area was very secluded, my mom decided that she wanted to have a dog. She went to a breeder in the city looking to buy an Airedale puppy, but he did not have any. He did however have Miniature Schnauzer puppies. One of the male puppies came right over to her so she decided to bring him home. Being that the Schnauzer is a German breed, my mother knew that she wanted a German name and the name Fritz is the first one that she thought of. It was a name that she had heard on one of her favorite television shows, The Odd Couple. I will let her describe the scene from the show:

"It was from a funny scene with Oscar where he was talking about the names of the sports figures on his wall.  He had some photos of them.  The boxer's name was Fritzie Zivic.  The name just stuck with me so when I got the Schnauzer it was what came to mind."

So it was then that Fritz, we also called him Fritzie, became a member of our family. My older brother was nine years old at the time and developed a very strong bond with the dog. I have very fond memories of Fritz dating back to my kindergarten days when he would wait for my bus at the end of the driveway and walk up to the house with me. Fritz was loving, playful and very protective of us kids. He was even known to hunt down the occasional birds, rabbits and snakes from time to time. He lived a great life and passed at the age of 13.

A few years after Fritz passed on, my mother decided to get another Miniature Schnauzer. This one would be a girl. I have mentioned before how I am a pretty big hockey fan. It was 1998 and Women's Ice Hockey made its debut at the Olympics. And if you don't know, the United States won the gold medal. The captain of that amazing team and there star player was Cammi Granato. Since we were all pumped up from the big win, we deiced to name this dog Cammi.

Cammi in the cat perch.

Cammi was a lot of fun. Since we were living in a townhouse now, she wasn't able to have free reign of the yard. So she spent a lot of her time inside hanging out with the cats. This resulted in her often acting like a cat. She would walk along the back of the couch, climb up onto the kitchen table and somehow even maneuver her way into the cat perch attached to the window. Cammi passed away just a few years ago.

Writing about my childhood dogs brings back a lotof happy memories and even a few tears as I write this. They each will forever hold a special place in my heart and I will always miss them. I enjoyed sharing the stories of how they got their names with you all.

How did you decide on your dog's name?

I am blogging about my dogs in partnership with DogFenceDiy, the invisible fence alternative. DogFenceDiy is sponsoring the "What's in a Name" Campaign as a reminder that no matter the name--they care about your pet's safety.

Mr. Chewy Pet Supplies Review

We do not have any pets in our house. I have enough trouble keeping up with my four boys, can you imagine adding a dog or cat to that mix! Gah! I did grow up always having a pet though and some day, when the kids are all grown, I may consider getting a dog.Sure the kids ask every now and then about getting a dog, but its not happening. Luckily we can just head on over to Grammy's house to get our cute dog fix.

Let me introduce you to Matusi, (pronounced Mat-soo-eee) the cute and extremely hyper Japanese Chin. He was named after the former NY Yankee player. I still think she should have named him Jeter, but whatever.

Having a pet is pretty close to having a child. You have to love and nurture them as well as take care of them. Which requires a range of products from food, toys beds and so on. There are plenty of brick and mortar stores for pet owners to shop at, but so many of us have super busy schedules and being able to order online is so much easier. Mr. Chewy offers a wide selection of brand name pet supplies at every day low prices. The best part is they are delivered right to your door.

When Mr. Chewy contacted me for a review I was really excited. Yes I know I don't have any pets, but I thought it would be nice to let my mom pick out some things for her cute little doggie. I told her to take a look and let me know if there was anything she used. She told me there were tons of items she used there and so we did a little shopping. We were easily able to find the items she wanted, including some Merrick dog food and Old Mother Hubbard biscuits. Below is a screen shot of our shopping cart full of doggie goodies.

If you spend $49 or more you get free 1 - 2 day shipping and since we live in CT, there was no sales tax. I placed my order late at night on December 22 and even though I know it is 1 to 2 day shipping, I fully expected it to arrive after Christmas. The next day I received my shipment notification and much to my surprise I had the package on my doorstep the morning of Christmas Eve. That is what I call excellent service. And I was able to bring a Christmas present for Matsui to dinner that night.

Everything came tightly packed in the box. One of the bags of biscuits had a small tear, which I accidentally made worse when I grabbed it. You can see it on the left of the photo above, which is after I ripped it more. Oops. My mother did not mind about the tear so we kept it all and she was very happy to get all of her supplies so quickly.

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Mr. Chewy always offer free shipping on orders over $49. They carry all the top brands and even have a great selection of natural foods for your little furbaby.

I received a coupon code to shop at Mr. Chewy to facilitate my review. All thoughts an opinions are my own. You may have a different experience with this company than I did.