Shania Twain & German Shepherds – no coincidence!

Hey everybody! It’s me, Taffy.

It’s always interesting to me to know how people – and dogs – got their names.

Take me, for instance. My name is Taffy, because when my Mom tried to think of a name for me when I first came home from the shelter, the first thing she thought of was that my colors were the color of candy – “salt water taffy.” It took me all my life to figure out what that actually meant, and I never really did – until I came to be with God and He helped me figure out the answers to my biggest questions (yea, God!)

My name, although I really didn’t get it for any “special” reason, turned out to be a very special name – one that my Mom & Dad and my best friends could turn into anything they wanted.

Like when I would run away, my Mom would softly say “TAFFY-o, where are you? Of course my Dad just had to be different, so he would call “Taffy-O, where are you?” (see the difference?) Then my best friends Hala (pronounced “HAY-la) and Jim, who took care of me when Dad had to go away, shortened my name to “Miss T” – because they always thought I was such a “princess” who had to have things exactly the way I wanted (they were kind of right about that).

But my favorite “how-did-your-dog-get-its-name” story is from my Dad’s sister – my “Aunt Lisa.” She is the biggest animal lover I ever knew, and her favorite dogs are German Shepherds.

Well – one time she brought a Shepherd home, and at the time, her husband just happened to have a “secret love” (not really, but you know what I mean, right?) It was some famous woman named Shania Twain who is famous for singing songs on all the annoying people noise boxes that I wish you didn’t have (we have sensitive hearing, people!)… Anyway – Shania Twain is very pretty. But Aunt Lisa’s husband didn’t know how to say her name. He pronounced it “Sha-NEE-ya,” NOT “Sha-NY-ya.” Aunt Lisa said, “no, no you silly boy, it’s NOT “Sha-NEE-ya” – it’s Sha-NY-ya!” But he just wouldn’t listen.

So – after thinking about it for a bit, Aunt Lisa named her new dog “Sha-NEE-ya” – which – if you think about it – is kind of a pretty sounding name! (NOT quite as good as “Taffy” – but I give it a good rating…)

And – as my Dad always says – in this world there are no coincidences. Because guess what kind of dog was Shania Twain’s absolute favorite?

German shepherds! And HER German Shepherd (see the picture) was named “Tim,” named after the town where she grew up – “Timmins.”

So wanna start an interesting conversation with someone you’d like to get to know better? Ask them if they have a dog, and if they say yes, ask them its name, and when they tell you, ask them how the dog got such a cute name!

(By the way, guys – my Dad says if you ask a pretty girl all these questions, you’ve got much, much more than just a simple “pick-up line.” I have NO idea what this means, but since it’s about pretty girls, I’m not surprised it came from my Dad!)

Write to Taffy with the story of how YOUR dog got its name @ tgwilliams@ymail.com

http://www.examiner.com/x-3117-Manchester-Dogs-Examiner~y2009m5d26-Shania-Twain--German-Shepherds--no-coincidence