The New Pup
Meet Jasper. His name was not a spur of the moment decision. We considered a lot of names first.
With his likely heritage of Red Heeler and the red coloring beginning to show on his coat we liked the idea of a “red” name. After all our big boy, Ryder, has a “red” name too.
Ryder Winchester “lab” testing the pups new chew toy.
But there were other things. We wanted a strong name–something that conveyed that he was a fighter, saved, loved. And Western. Just like Ryder is “western” (if you didn’t catch it before he is a Red Ryder like the BB gun) the new pup should be western too. Guess it is a thing for us right now.
Too Many Choices
There was a long list of possibilities: Ranger, Wrangler, Duke, Sherlock (one of my favorites), Tanner, Hudson, Oliver, Milo, Bolt, John Wayne, Quigley (another good one!), Dallas, Austin, Phoenix, Tex, and quite a few more I just don’t recall. Then there was the task of getting everyone to agree.
The criteria: Nothing too common. Western. With meaning.
We narrowed it down to Ranger, Wrangler or Duke or something we just hadn’t considered. Then Jasper popped up.
Ranger and Wrangler were not ideal because Ryder would answer to either of these sporadically too. Kind of like Sweetie. Our Gidget girl answered to just about anything. She just liked to be with us. And tummy rubs. She loved her tummy rubs.
Gidget. Sweetie. The best durn dog.
But as she got older she lost a bit of her ability to process. And she answered almost anytime we called anyone. Miss her so much!!! 🙁
But then came the pup. And another name came to mind:
Jasper.
Meaning
As in Jasper, Wyoming? That’s at least Westernish. Zane Grey named one of his most memorable characters Nevada. So, naming someone (or in this case a pup) has been done. It is a thing. It’s a start.
Then we had to consider meaning. For example, Quigley. Chosen because Red Heelers are Australian Cattle dogs it seemed viable. Except when you realize Quigley was an American who went down under. Not Australian. And the name itself means “descendent of Coigleach.” Hmmm.
We even revisited the original list. Hudson? As in Rock Hudson. See? there’s a Rock in there. But Hudson means son of a hooded man. That’s just weird.
On and on. Names fell flat. For this reason and that.
We came back to Jasper.
Meaning “treasurer” or “bringer of treasure,” we also learned that Jasper is one of the names assigned to one of the Magi. And there are several references to Jasper as a precious stone in the Bible.
To top it off, Jasper is a reddish quartz!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper
Jasper a Western town. A treasure. A red stone. A reddish rock (implying the strength of a precious stone), and bringer of treasure. Without calling him Red, we can say he is red! Just like Ryder. It was time for a happy dance.
What about Remington Sherlock the third? Remington because my son is a hunter, and he wanted the connection to Ryder’s middle name of Winchester. And the third? Not because we’ve had two other Jaspers, but because Gidget was dog 1, Ryder is dog 2, and now the pup.
We are quite serious about naming our pets.
Big Buddy & Lil’Buddy
Read more about the escapades of Jasper here.
Find out why we chose this particular half-naked pup here.
Updated July 26, 2019
