She needs a name

Catch up on episodes 1 and 2 of the story.

In puppy mills, dogs are identified by a number, not a name. They’re just a business commodity, and only have value if they produce more than they cost. If not, they are discarded, sometimes in horrible ways.

When our shut-down border collie was rescued, the team at the humane society began calling her Fly, after a character in the movie Babe. But while being known as Fly was better than being just a number, it wasn’t quite right for her.

In our family, we put a lot of thought into a dog’s name. It’s the first gift we can give them when they join our home, and we choose with love and intention. Given all our border collie had been through, we knew her name was going to be especially important. It needed to set the tone for her new life, and somehow reflect the elegance we could sense was buried deep inside her.

We thought and thought. What was her name? Each one we came up with just didn’t suit her. Because she was deaf, we couldn’t judge her opinion by calling out names and seeing how she responded.  We had to rely on our intuition. We asked our dog-loving friend Lena to help us. We tossed around dozens of ideas, but none of them suited her. We vetoed name after name.

After a couple days of frustration, Lena said, “What about Vida?”

When we researched the meaning, we knew it was perfect. Depending on the language, Vida means “new life” or “dearly loved.” And there it was. Our intention for the rest of her days: a new life where she would be loved beyond measure.

To be continued…

Photo at the top of the page: A big step - Vida left her kennel in the shelter basement and joined me in the office. She is wearing a Thundershirt which provides gentle compression to help dogs feel calmer.