Sidetracks #1

        Stories about the BC’s

We’d like to introduce a new segment to our page – it’s a sidetrack – hope you enjoy …

We’ve received a TON of email questions about us, on a more personal note.  Folks that are just wanting to know a little more about us, as individuals … so we’ll take this time to answer one of those many questions …

QUESTION:  “Some of your names could make sense, but “Gall” (with two L’s) and “Rooney” – where in the world did those come from?”

ANSWER:  Well, if you know mom-D … you know that there is a madness to her method!  We’ll just walk you through everybody’s names (there is really more to this answer than the asker thought!):

Rooney:  Well, it was one evening in October of 2003 … it would have been a Thursday since Mom D was looking at the classifieds and called dad at the office and asked him if they could get a new dog.  Now, I know that dad wasn’t drunk – since he was at the office and all … but he said yes anyway!  This floored mom-D since they had two wonderful pups already – Shooter (i.e. – Shoo, a Sheltie) and Hardway (i.e. – HW or H, a Catahoula cross).  So mom-D and dad stopped by Spring Branch and said “Hey!” to Pat and Dick and then headed out to the Hard Rock Ranch (mom’s birth spot).  Well, it was after dark when they got there and when they made it down to the dog pens, all of the pups – probably three litters worth, all from the same bitch – went scattering!  Dad told mom-D that he preferred the youngest batch and wanted a male.  Mom-D walked in the pen, and this one ugly-cute pup just sat there and looked at her.  Mom-D picked the pup up and the man said, “That’s Freckles!  She’s not scared of anything!”  All of the other pups were scattered under tin, parts, and miscellaneous junk.  Dad and the boy were looking for male pups, mom-D kept petting Freckles and decided that she liked the spunky little female.  Now Freckles wasn’t really all that happy to be there (she decided that she would have run off if given half a chance, but she wasn’t gonna let these people see her sweat!)  Since all of the males that dad was able to catch were ugly, he went ahead and checked out Freckles and decided that she was “ok”.  The man said that she was free, but if they wanted the papers that she was $100.  Dad replied, “Papers … We don’t need no stinkin' papers!”  (Blazing Saddles, get it??!) – No, really – he is tight and wasn’t about to part with a Benjy and said that he didn’t want to breed her.  So, dad and mom-D wound up with Freckles.  What’s that, you haven’t heard about Freckles before?  That really was the best name that could have EVER have been given to that dog.  It really fit her as a pup, and still fits her today!  But dad, in his infinite wisdom, wanted a new name for HIS (mom-D thought it was hers!) new dog.  He wanted something that would reflect the town/community that they now lived in.  Well, the town was originally surveyed and laid out by a feller by the name of James Rooney.  Dad knew this from his work experience and decided that Rooney was a fine name for a dog … thus momma Roo was thus christened.  (Dad still calls her Freckles sometimes … but she will come to anything that dad calls her – she even comes when he wiggles his finger at her!).

Gall and Patches:  Littermates born on a cold evening/night on February 25, 2006.  This was Freckle’s (err … I mean Momma Roo’s) first litter and dad was really nervous.  Roo was in the house (with Shoo and HW) and she kept bugging mom-D – so mom-D finally turned her out.  Dad stayed concerned so mom-D stayed on the couch and promised to check on her in a few minutes … well, Roo went into HW’s doghouse (and not her own) and had already had three pups by the time that mom-D checked.  Mom-D woke dad up … he paced, boiled water, and kept checking on Roo.  Around 4 AM that morning, mom-D woke up to klunk, klunk, klunk, klick, klick, klick – dad and Roo coming down the hall, then whimper, whimper, whimper, whine, whine, whine – the puppies came too.  Dad crashed (he was exhausted).  Mom-D was finally able to return to peaceful slumber amid the Slurp, Slurp, Slurp, Lick, Lick, Lick, but awoke that morning to find seven bouncing baby RooPups!  Of course, dad played with all of them and gave them all names.  After about 5 ½ weeks the “process” started … now, you should know that mom-D DOES NOT sell pups, but she doesn’t give them away either … if you know mom-D, you’ll understand that this truly is an adoption process!  Pretty much everything short of a credit report is required!  Well, the litter dwindled down to three puppies – Baby, Flash, and Patches!  Dad had already expressed his opinion to mom-D that they were only keeping ONE pup and that he thought that Flash would be a really good dog.  Mom loved Baby’s looks.  So when the next adopter came – mom-D couldn’t be “mean” and say that Patches was the only one left (mom-D had already determined that they were keeping two pups!) and she gave the choice, Baby or Patches.  They chose Baby.  Flash soon became Gall (though she was quite fast even as a pup and dad still calls her Flash when she is Really Stupendous!) due to the same reason that Freckles became Rooney.  You see, dad and mom-D’s town was originally called St. Gall and this was the town that was laid out by Mr. Rooney.  Patches … well, Patch, when she was a pup – she did have patches – she grew out of them.  When dad and mom-D were down to the two pups (who truly love each other), mom-D suggested Comanche (Gall) and Apache (Patches) but dad dismissed that – though now he admits that would’ve been cool because ever since, they have been wild a$$ Indians!!  Just ask Pete!

Annie & Bubba:  Littermates, born on the beautiful mid-morning of February 19, 2010.  Dad, being experienced in birthing pups now, sat and watched frantically (but he didn’t boil water this time!)  Momma Roo was in Gall’s unit of the newly constructed three unit doggy condo (Yeah – it really does exist.  Dad built it out of new materials, no leftover material doghouse for these BC’s.  Donald helped him move it – it is heavy!)  Mom-D was out of town so she wasn’t available to advise dad (it’s amazing how much knowledge that she actually had in the dog birthing process).  Dad moved Roo and the pups into the house after six pups, and then Roo decided to have two more (the last one was still born and dad had to pull it – after a call to Dr. Miller, Thanks for the advice Melissa!).  This was a rambunctious bunch of pups – all with colorful, temporary names.  Then the “process” started again!  There went Pedro, then Slowpoke Rodriquez, so long Bandit and the others - then we were left with Bubba and Speedy Gonzales.  Well, Dad informed mom-D that they were only keeping one and he thought that they should keep Bubba.  Mom-D had been holding Speedy back all along (wasn’t going to have another Baby fiasco).  So, mom-D decisively stated that Speedy was staying, dad relented to keeping two since he really wanted Bubba (and hasn’t regretted it for one second!).  Mom-D didn’t like the name Bubba (after all, dads bubba is named Bubba!) – so she changed his official name (at the vet) to Riggs, while Speedy’s was changed to Annie.  Sounds odd … not really … you see the Rigg’s family was instrumental in settling our wild Texas town (and is currently still working on the development of the county) and Annie Riggs had the first reputable hotel back in the wild west days!

So, you see, with the exception of Miss Patches – there is a commonality in the naming of these BC’s.  So, Virginia (or whatever the person asking this question’s name is …) “Yes, there really is a Rooney, and Gall does have two L's!”

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We hope that our readers enjoyed this little info-article about us!  We really enjoyed putting it together.  But, to tell you the truth – we haven’t really had much response to this little site at all (dang ol’ web tracking devices!).  We know that some folks are looking at the site and that they’re averaging about 2:45 minutes per page, but we’re not getting much feedback … thanks Don, Dad and Linda!  You know, BC’s will work their tails off just because, but a little acknowledgement and feedback goes a long way.  Dad doesn’t really mind because he’s gonna keep on doing this as long as it feels good to him – and right now, it feels WONDERMOUS!  But a little “shout out” would be cool!

Thanks everybody – wishing you all a blessed day!

The Pups

PS - Shooter's registered name was "Texas Shooting Star", hence Shooter.  Hardway was picked up out in the country around Veribest and dad  almost got lost - it was a hard way to go to get her.