We walked outside and Mom sat on the ground, grinning a huge smile you couldn’t help but smile back at. What was that beside her? Eeewww! It was some sort of black and white rat! No, that’s not it. What had Jocelyn said?

We stood in the kitchen. What was the surprise? “Maybe it’s a new dog!” Jocelyn said. As if that would happen.

Amazingly, there stood a 6-week old shih-tzu. She stiffed around happily as we all gaped in amazement. None of us had expected it! Well, Jocelyn had but it was a joke.
Later, Jocelyn, Bailey, the dog, and I sat on the trampoline thinking of a name. Well, Birkleigh is short for Birkenstock, named after a popular shoe being sold and in style for decades. Shoes, handbags, anything designer and fancy was in our mind. Jocelyn wanted to name her Louis Vuitton, I don’t think so! LOL! As we continued thinking, we got really creative. I think it would be really cool if she had been a boy because we could have named it Dooney! Do you get it? Dooney and Burke, or Dooney and Birk? Corny, but cute. Eventually, we thought of a really good name. Prada! Jocelyn and I love the name Prada, and it fits her “all eyes on me” personality that all shih-tzus share. Her silky black fur gave her the Prada attitude. Dad liked the name, but he wanted better. Darn... We played with our little puppy until Jocelyn left.

That night, Mom, Dad, and I sat in the kitchen with her and discussed names. We have different taste in names, I learned. Prada, Jazzy, and B’jorn, (yes, my designer shoe theme), are quite different from Camille, Smidgen, and Java. When naming off pointless words that could be used as pet names, I happened to mention “Chenille”. Mom and Dad liked it! The third time this has happened, too! My sarcasm named a pet. Birkleigh Birkenstock and Spiffy (Hannah’s cat) were named that way. I liked it a bit, it was ok. What about my designer name? But wait... One of my suggestions for a name was Coco Chanel. Chanel, Chenille, Chenel, Chenille. Hmm...

We have 4 dogs. Toblerone (Toby), Shamos O’Ryleigh, Birkleigh Birkenstock, and Coco Chenille. We love them with all our hearts! Thank you for reading about this wonderful experience!

Chenille is so cute! See pictures of her at www.jbirdpics.blogspot.com!