My niece Katie is the one who got me onto Salon by giving me a gift membership years ago.  She is owned by two rescue dogs, Gordon and Maddy.  About a year ago, Katie posted a list of Gordon’s nicknames on her blog.  Being another O/C member of the same family, I began compiling a list of Sasha's nicknames.

KT with Miss Fluffinstuff and El Gordón

We can't help ourselves!  We love our animals and we sweet-talk them.  I've seen some of the world's toughest men and women, Iditarod mushers, grizzled & weather beaten & flinty, lean down and caress their dogs like lovers.  I've heard irascible Alaskan curmudgeons like Rick Swenson and Charlie Boulding sweet-talking their dogs in terms that would embarrass me to have someone else overhear.

Here on Open Salon we have beloved pets Homer, Mr. Beano, Harpo, and Sparkle with their nicknames, among many other OS animal friends.

Here's my list.  Yeah, it's long.  If you write down everything you call your pet for a week (not to mention for a year), you'll be surprised how many nicknames you're using.  They're probably not any more embarrassing than your HS senior portrait, so go ahead--make a list and share it with us.  Tag it "pet nicknames" or "for dogwoman" and send me a message so I don't miss your list.  Photos are optional, but wonderful!

Sasha Amaroq’s Nicknames

Aggilator (when only her back is visible swimming)

Alligator (“      “)

Almond Eyes

Antelope Butt (cream-colored patch under her tail)

Baby Girl

Baby Puppy

A boy and his dog:  James with the Baby Puppy, 5 ½ weeks old

Baby Sheppie(s) (I only have one, but sometimes she’s plural)

Baby Weasel(s)

Bear Cub

Bowl Licker

The Beefeater (she checks everything out first to keep us safe)

Best Girl (I can call her this because I live with three men)

Bi-colored Beppie or Bi-colored Bobeppie (Sasha is bi-color: her body is black and her legs are reddish tan)(Beppie and Bobeppie are Andrew-isms)

BIA (Butt In the Air) (when she wants to play or is chewing on a toy)

Big Girl

Big Kisser

Big Lummox

Big Rabbit Feet

Big Scary Sheppie(s)

Big Time Beppies (an Andrew-ism)

Big Uhz (a Mary-ism from childhood—our black Lab Cindy was a buzzgles and our Scottish Terrier Frisky was a pooskly . . . who knew?)

The Biodweasel (free heat in the wintertime)

The Black

Black Dog (a James-ism)

The Bobeppie

Bonehead

Bonesy Weasel (lazy)

Box of Rocks

Bright Eyes

Brown-eyed Girl

Brrffer (a brrff is a pre-growl warning noise)

Brrffomatic

Brrffing Beppies

Burper

Chop Licker

Claws of Doom

The Dawg

Dire Weasel (D&D term from the boys)

The Dragon (hoards tennis balls, cuzzes, and Frisbees)

The Dup

Dweasel (James elided “The Weasel”)

Dweasely Weasel

Earless Wonder (ears laid back when overjoyed or coy)

Egg-sucking Weasel (previous Shepherd Sheena actually ate duck eggs in our Minnetonka yard; James & Andrew named their first Guitar Hero band the Egg-Sucking Weasels)

Egyptian Weasel (Sasha drops a toy at your feet in the family room, runs and sits behind the big couch, then waits like an Egyptian statue for you to throw the toy over the couch into the foyer—a game she invented)

Eye Gooper

Fang

Fat & Sassy Girl (after she eats, she’s frisky)

The Fire Marshall (carefully supervises all lighting of fireplace fires)

Flag Tail (when prancing down driveway to meet Andrew’s bus)

Floop Ear

Friend Terry holding the Floop Ear

The Fluffball

The Fluffomatic

Food Breath

Foot Dragger (part two of standard stretch)

Freezy Nose

The Frilled Lizard (Sasha has a frill instead of a ruff; her mother has a plush coat)

Frisbee Queen

Frisbee-a-holic

FUBAR (Fluffed Up Beyond All Recognition)

Funny Girl

Funny Little Girl

The Furball

Furnace Breath (in summer after hard play)

Fuzzball

Cute little Fuzzball with cat ball that breeder/trainer Amy taught her to fetch when 5 weeks old

Gannet (a bird that eats ravenously; this only applies when bits of chicken or burger appear atop the usual dry food)

Good Baby Weasel

Good Girl

Good Little Girl

Good Little Weasel

Goofball

Goof Ears (when she’s uber-excited, you can fold her ears forward halfway down each ear)

Growler Howler (when having her feet dried)

The Guard Weasel

The Guhz (Mary-ism variation on childhood term buhz, short for buzzgles)

The Gullumpher (when she gallops around like a puppy acting silly)

The Heater

Hot Breath

Hot Little Girl

Hot Weasel

Howler Growler (when being toweled dry)

Howly Growly Pup

Indignant Weasel

It

The Jealous (every time Steve & I hug, she brings a toy and drops it next to us—What about me???)

Jumping Black Flash

Kisser

Lardball (when trying to move an inert sleeping dog they weigh twice as much)

Lardo (“    “)

Lazy Girl

Lazy Weasel

Little Black Girl

Little Girl

Little Heater

The Little Sheppie (big dog, but little Sheppie)

The Little Weasel

Lizard Tongue

Lover

Lover Girl

Luggage, Suitcase, Baggage (a Linda-ism used when holding up scruff on back)

A Mess (e.g. “You’re a mess,” a Southern phrase implying humorous disaster, not mud)

Miss Priss (a Steve-ism)

Moaner Groaner

Mud Nose

The Muhz (Mary-ism variation)

Nibble Groomer

Nibblinator

Noser (when nosing your elbow to get your attention)

The Nuisance

Otter Tail

Pea Brain

Perrito (first James and now Andrew, both proficient Spanish speakers)

The Pest

The Pest and a Menace

The Pest and a Nuisance

The Pestiferous Pup

Pink Belly

Sasha’s half-brother Saber pins her down to emphasize, “Yo, Pest (with the cute Pink Belly), I’m talkin' to you!”

Plooper Flooper (when lying down hard)

Plume Tail (see Flag Tail)

Prancer Dancer (see Flag Tail)

Pretty Baby

Pretty Girl

Pretty Sheppie

Pretty Sheppie Girl

Princess of Power (carryover nickname from Sheena, whom Steve called Shee-Na, Princess of Power)

Pwner (when she pwns—humiliates—one of the boys)

Psycho Weasel

The Pup

Queen Bee

Radar Ears (which she rotates independently toward sound)

Roaster

Roaster Toaster (warm & snuggly, but she eventually cooks you)

Sasha Bobasha (variation of Steve’s Sheena Bobeena)

Sashameister

Sawoosh (Arabic nonsense nickname bestowed by the Al-masoud family)

The Shep

The Sheply Wonder

The Shepomatic

The Sheppie(s)

Sheppie Bobeppie (Andrew again)

The Sheppie Girl

Sheppie Woo (a tongue-in-cheek homage to “Tricky Woo” of James Herriot fame)

Sheppies & Beppies & Weppies & Meppies

Silky Girl

Silly Girl

Silly Little Girl

Sly and Clever Girl

Smart Girl

Smart Little Girl

SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fluffed Up)

Snapper and Flapper (when play fighting)

Snarfoholic (on rare occasions when she’s motivated about eating; she’d rather play 24/7)

The Sneezel Weasel

The Sniveler (when a boy or boys are outside and she isn’t)

Snuffleupagus (sniffing intently)

The Snow Shepherd

The Source of the Problem (Steve hates having dog hair everywhere)

The Stalker

Suspicious Weasels

Sweet Girl

Sweetling

Sweetness Pie

Sweetness Pup

Sweetness Pup Sasha and littermate on James’ lap at breeder’s; the boys held five Baby Sheppies in their lap at once—now one doesn’t even fit!

Taco Frisbee ( see Meet the Weasel)

Tail Chaser

Target Butt (reference library goddess Mary Biscuso term)

Thud the Dog (when lying down hard)

Tiptoe Wake-up Brigade (we have a high bed to accommodate Steve’s arthritis, so Sasha has to stand on tiptoe to see Mary in the morning—she only wakes me up if I’ve slept 10 or more hours, though)

Toaster Roaster

Toe Spreader (part one of standard stretch)

Tongue Wagger (Andrew-ism for monstrous tongue droopage after Frisbee session)

Trouble

The Uhz (Mary-ism variation)

Uhzzes & Muhzzes & Guhzzes & Wuhzzes

Sasha is at the lower right, almost all black, in this group of Uhzzes & Muhzzes & Guhzzes & Wuhzzes

Uhzzes with Cuzzes (Good Cuz, Bad Cuz, Dino Cuz are large, rugged squeaky toys)

Upside Down Girl

Victory Lapper (Sasha runs a lap around the LR/DR/K/FR after a particularly good catch in the over-the-couch toy game)

The Vulture (leaning forward weaseling for a toy)

Wagging Weasels

Warg Back (when growling or barking at suspicious animals or people, the hair on Sasha’s entire back stands up from her neck to the base of her tail—an allusion to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Peter Jackson’s films)

The Weasel (because she can fit through tiny spaces a German Shepherd should never be able to navigate; and she’s lightning quick and sneaky)

Weasel Girl

Weaselage

Weaselage & Dweaselage

Weasels

Weasely Dweasel

Weez (contributed by Connie Mack in a comment)

Wet Nose

The Wet Paintbrush (when she’s chased her tail psychotically and caught it too many times because something extremely exciting is happening that she’s not allowed to participate in—like James & Andrew playing balloon volleyball over the couch—her tail gets so soggy that it slaps on the vinyl floor like a wet paintbrush, truly gross!)

Wigglebutt (learned from neighbor when petting their dog while trick-or-treating)

Wuhzzles

The Wuhz (Mary-ism variation)

The Wup

X-treme Weasel (needed an x)

You Stinking Weasel (James calls Sasha this in disgust when she outsmarts him)

Zepp Shep (our own “Black Dog.”  James and Andrew just bought Rock Band and the two science majors have named their band “Pb Zeppelin”)

Every time I look at photos of Sasha or sit down with her, I realize there are more that aren’t on this list!  Looking forward to hearing yours!!!

Fondly,

DogWoman