Naming

I adopted Ollie back in June. Well, was given him, really.

Brought to believe that females are better dogs to have, I was
skeptical when I met Oliver at his foster home. That, and the fact
that he was white and brown (instead of black ad white) had me
hesitating. But, his foster parents were very cool. I could take him
home and keep him as long as I wanted and they would take him back if
it didn't work out.

So, I took the doggy, who is half the size of any dogs that I have
grown-up with (Old English Sheepdogs and a Beardie) and went home with
him. I talked to him in the car, "I'm not so sure about you" I told
him, assuming that it needed to be love at the very first site.

At which point he rested his chin on my arm, which I had resting on
the center consol.

OK, you're a keeper.
For now.

That was back in June. It was a very short period of time until I
realized he was for me. Well behaved, he'd sit and lie down on
command. Eager and sweet, he'd follow me all around the apartment and
still does. If he's extra needy, his nose will bonk into the back of
my knee if I stop short while wandering through the apartment.

When I got him, his name was Astro. Totally dumb name, if you ask me.

I sent an email out to my friends and family and received a huge list
of name options, including -
Rufus
Cap, short for Capitalist Lap Dog
Imp, short for Imperialist Running Dog
Dogmatix, in honor of the French comic strip dog
Chad, a historically significant Florida foo foo.
Stay
Getoverhere
Getoverhier (German)
Gedovaheaa (Boston)
Buck
Prince Buck.
Otis or Monty
Wilson, Max, Peter, Freddy, Oliver, Buddy, Sam, Lucky, Dakota, Gage,
Cody, Marvin.
Joel
Sebastian
Clyde
cyrus
Rochester (a little much to be saying all the time but I like it)
Traddles
Wilkie (I Love this name in general...it belongs to the writer Wilkie
Collins. I wouldn't name a child Wilkie, but I certainly would name an
animal Wilkie).
Wordsworth (a little heavy handed with the literary influence, but it
would be fun to say, "This is my dog, Wordsworth. And the name works
well with the "contemplative-investigative-monk" picture you have of
him).
Littimer
Mr. Mell
Bartleby (Bart or Barty for short)
Chewbacca (you could call him Chewie for short!)
Jodi just thought of Churchill!
Hermeto (named after Hermeto Pascoal, Brazilian musician)
George
Lou
Pascal
Zero
Elvis
Theodore
rocket
freckles
andrew
Astro Joe Hakey
Bogart or Bogey
Truman
Stewart
Wally
Riley
Theo
falcor.
atrayu (Neverending Story fans?)
Patches
Watson.
Cecil
Doodel
Leo, Otis, Louie or Edgar
Jack

But it was my friend Christina's student who suggested Oliver.
So, Oliver it became.