Goober and Nash

Goober is the best dog ever. They don’t get any better than him. He’ll be 2 in April and is pretty much trained. He still learns new tricks but he doesn’t require constant attention. He can roam the house and I don’t have to “watch” him every second. He is crate trained but we don’t use the crate anymore unless he just wants in it to sleep. He has free run of the house. We are now empty nesters. We have no one at home to take up our time. And Goober loves to play so we decided to get him a playmate. We’d been looking for a little bit off an on. We wanted another Australian Shepherd and also wanted another Blue Merle colored one just so they’d match. We originally were thinking of getting a girl about the same age as Goober. We emailed several rescues and what is sad is we never heard back from them about dogs they show they had available. It made me sad because it made me think those dogs weren’t getting a fair shot because the humans weren’t responding to interested people. We kept searching.
Jimmie found a farm in Oklahoma that raised black angus cattle and Ausralian Shepherds that are actual working dogs. They had an 11 week old male puppy. How’d we get from a teenage female to a male puppy. He just fit. So we brought him home.
Next came a name. We have had a lot of fun and embarrassment with Goober’s name. It fits him. He’s goofy and dorky and a real Goober. But there are times we talk about him and it doesn’t sound exactly right if the person we’re talking to doesn’t understand Goober is a dog. So we tossed names around. We have a very warped sense of humor so you can imagine some of the names we came up with. It took a lot of work to talk Jimmie out of Nads. I actually love the name just because it fits to go with Goober’s.. But then I thought of all the kids and adults that stop me when I walk Goober and ask what his name is. I couldn’t imagine answering that question and saying Goober and Nads. But I could imagine saying ” Go Nads. Get the balls.” Just because it’s funny. I remember when the vet asked what Goobers name was for his first appt. she said you didn’t really name him that did you? Now they agree the name fits. So the internal debate began. We got him home and the decision was made. He will be Nash. It’s close to Nads and that can be a nickname. Like Goober becomes Goobs sometimes. I can answer the question of what’s their names with a lot less embarrassment and it’s short since I’ll be using it frequently. He is not Goober. He is hard headed, stubborn, sneaky and like a bull in a China closet compared to Goobers agile, easy going, ready to please self. They will be quite the pair. The brawn and the brains. Nash will not be our agility champion but he might just well be our lap dog that could take down an intruder if needed.
So welcome Nash Pate. Shortly You will be as spoiled and loved as Goober. He will show you the ropes even though I have a feeling you’ll be walking your own line. Or just crossing that line occasionally to keep us on our toes.