DogCatMom
Well-known member
Yesterday, at DH's annual work picnic, I was showing some people how to do cardboard loom needle weaving. We were making coasters; both hands-on students finished theirs, and several other people took my handout and a loom with pre-cut warp home for later, since they were "working" at the picnic. (Mostly busy talking to other people, but hey it's a volunteer activity with friends!)
At some point in the afternoon, I was busy working on my own coaster--definitely better than the prototype I used to "sell" the craft activity with--and The Name whooshed through my brain.
All week, as I've hand-fed him and also put food into his bowl, Bun-Bun has responded (or not) to a selection of names proposed by forum members and by DH. He's begun standing on his back feet in a very prairie-doggish way, just like I've trained my orange-and-white Maine Coon X cat to do on the command of "UP," when I present him with flat-leaf parsley or fresh-cut chicory stems.
It was clear a couple of days in that he preferred two-syllable names. Sadly, he didn't respond at all to one-syllable names like Rake, Herb, or Payne.
But I really enjoyed learning about Payne grey. So I added "Herbie" to the two-syllable names.
Grayson? Herbie? Grijsje (Dutch for "Little Gray One")? (A rather detailed story lies behind my connection to the Dutch language and to the northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, so I was hoping he'd choose this one.)
In the end, The Name was a combination of factors--his favorite food, terms that he has responded to this week, and some silliness, even though he's a Working Rabbit :wink: , recognized as a gardening assistant. Even so, he's still a rabbit, and they--well, at least the boys--seem to have an innate sense of the absurd.
He weighs 11.46 lb (vet weight), so is AmChin for sure--he looks exactly like the AmChin photos on the linked page, including the white behind the ears and on the upper back.
Sweet, confident, hard-working/eating Parsley Graybuns. Unfazed by Bernese Mtn. Dogs or by cats, he ambles to the "walls" of his ex-pen, sticks his nose through the wires, and sniffs as his housemates are introduced. A Berner pushes past "Mutti" (me) and circumambulates the ex-pen. Parsley rises onto his back feet and watches the large creature with interest, not fear. He goes down on all fours to watch the dog out of the room. The orange-and-white cat? Same story: nose through the wires, mutual nose-touching. (Very sweet. ) No cowering or shrinking back by Parsley Graybuns! A rabbit of Sturdier Stuff than many, he reduced a Russian Blue X cat to a mere shadow last night by his mere presence. Said cat tried his best to become invisible as Parsley tried to make the cat's further acquaintance, offering a nose touch. Perhaps at a later date....
There's one cat left to go, the DSH calico aka "Fraidy cat." We have no idea how she'll react to him; we expect a "Let me out of here!" reaction similar to the Russian Blue X, but who knows what weirdness lurks in the mind of a cat?
Parsley Graybuns will reveal it for us!
At some point in the afternoon, I was busy working on my own coaster--definitely better than the prototype I used to "sell" the craft activity with--and The Name whooshed through my brain.
All week, as I've hand-fed him and also put food into his bowl, Bun-Bun has responded (or not) to a selection of names proposed by forum members and by DH. He's begun standing on his back feet in a very prairie-doggish way, just like I've trained my orange-and-white Maine Coon X cat to do on the command of "UP," when I present him with flat-leaf parsley or fresh-cut chicory stems.
It was clear a couple of days in that he preferred two-syllable names. Sadly, he didn't respond at all to one-syllable names like Rake, Herb, or Payne.
But I really enjoyed learning about Payne grey. So I added "Herbie" to the two-syllable names.Grayson? Herbie? Grijsje (Dutch for "Little Gray One")? (A rather detailed story lies behind my connection to the Dutch language and to the northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, so I was hoping he'd choose this one.)
In the end, The Name was a combination of factors--his favorite food, terms that he has responded to this week, and some silliness, even though he's a Working Rabbit :wink: , recognized as a gardening assistant. Even so, he's still a rabbit, and they--well, at least the boys--seem to have an innate sense of the absurd.
He weighs 11.46 lb (vet weight), so is AmChin for sure--he looks exactly like the AmChin photos on the linked page, including the white behind the ears and on the upper back.
Sweet, confident, hard-working/eating Parsley Graybuns. Unfazed by Bernese Mtn. Dogs or by cats, he ambles to the "walls" of his ex-pen, sticks his nose through the wires, and sniffs as his housemates are introduced. A Berner pushes past "Mutti" (me) and circumambulates the ex-pen. Parsley rises onto his back feet and watches the large creature with interest, not fear. He goes down on all fours to watch the dog out of the room. The orange-and-white cat? Same story: nose through the wires, mutual nose-touching. (Very sweet.
) No cowering or shrinking back by Parsley Graybuns! A rabbit of Sturdier Stuff than many, he reduced a Russian Blue X cat to a mere shadow last night by his mere presence. Said cat tried his best to become invisible as Parsley tried to make the cat's further acquaintance, offering a nose touch. Perhaps at a later date....There's one cat left to go, the DSH calico aka "Fraidy cat." We have no idea how she'll react to him; we expect a "Let me out of here!" reaction similar to the Russian Blue X, but who knows what weirdness lurks in the mind of a cat?
Parsley Graybuns will reveal it for us!
