Barkley

AKA : Bubba

1. Born: 4/19/2001

Left our world: 9/26/2017

Likes: Chewies, Barking, Long Walks, His Toys

Dislikes: Squirrels, Anyone on the Other Side of the Window

Sadly, there’s no great story behind the introduction of Barkley to the family. I grew up with Pomeranians, but the person I was dating at the time didn’t want a “little, yappy dog.” Well, American Eskimos are slightly larger than Pomeranians, but still had the long hair I was used to, so we agreed that an Eskie it was. We looked in the paper one weekend, and there was only one ad for Eskie puppies. We called, scheduled a time to come out, and ventured out to the suburbs.

Apparently, our appointment was the last one because there was only one puppy left.

But he was all I needed. The woman told us that he was a full breed Mini American Eskimo which meant he wouldn’t be quite full size. She also said that while he was a pure breed, he didn’t have papers. That was fine with me because I never intended to show him. I just wanted to love him.

Well, on the way home, we were discussing name options. My ideas were being shot down fairly quickly. And that is when Barkley began chiming in. My ex appropriately suggested Barkley and I agreed (but was still pretty disappointed that Stuart had been eliminated). I said, “Barkley is perfect! I mean you can tell already that he’s a talker.”

My ex kind of gave me this blank stare. So I asked, “What?” My ex said, “I was actually just thinking of Barkley because of my favorite basketball player Charles Barkley.” At first, I thought this was a joke. But, no. Then I looked at that pure white little cotton ball-like puppy and said, “But isn’t Charles Barkley black?” Second, blank stare.
(Note: these differences in our thought patterns is one of the major reasons we’re not still together.)

Anyway, Barkley it was. He came home, got checked out by the cat, checked out the cat, hid for a while, came out for a while, burrowed under things to hide while he was out, and then realized that the world revolved around him. His life has been wonderful ever since.