Sunday's Gratitide: A Sense of Humor

Wiley is the namesake of Wile E. Coyote, the famous nemesis of the Road Runner.

Here he is posing with his Wile E Coyote glass from our Looney Tunes set.

When we first got Wiley, we literally had a written list of  18 names to consider. Remember, he was an adult when we got him, and the details on his name were lacking so the shelter called him Moses.  We wanted something to reflect his playful and silly nature.  We got the list down to Wiley, Buster, Kramer, or Clifford. In personality, he is 100% Buster, from the tv show Arrested Development. If you watch the show you know what I mean. If you don't, you need to start!  Here is a clip of Buster chasing a bird that got into his mother's penthouse.

In the picture above, taken in the summer of 2012, Wiley had discovered his first housefly.  His reaction was to bark loudly while chasing it, knocking over anything in his way.  Since he weighs 60 lbs, he was the proverbial bull in a china shop; his resemblance to Buster was uncanny.

Wiley consistently and flagrantly breaks rules.  As I teacher, I know all too well there should be consequences. However, some days my enforcer spirit is just depleted, and Wiley's spiteful cuteness is too hard to fight.  Whether he's showing me the cup he just stole from the dishwasher:

or he's trying to get me to notice he has an empty cup of yogurt in his mouth:

I cave in and laugh. I whisper to my husband "Look at your dog," and he does the same to me.  There are so many serious and sober moments in life. We have decided in our house we will take as few things seriously as possible. 

Getting back to the name thread,  why didn't we go with the name Buster?  He just wouldn't answer to it. Nor would he to Kramer or Clifford. Wiley, on the other hand, produced an immediate and enthusiastic reaction. He is our Wile E. Dog.

How did you chose the name or names of your pets?  Share some funny stories with us about them.  Get excited too, because this week is going to be fun. We'll have Animals Behaving Badly, for which you can still submit pictures. We'll have part two of the Goose and Eddie story, and a cute rescue named  Cali who has a great furever home!  Check in often.