Insolublog asked, “What were the inspirational neuron firings behind the names Scout and Isis?” I decided that this question probably would be so long that it would deserve it’s own post, and I’ll just link it when I put together the rest of the “FAQs.”

I think the best way to explain the names of the dogs is to give an in depth history of the various dogs that JINW (J* Is Never Wrong) has owned, dating back to her pre-FIAR days. That’s because both Scout and Isis are names inspired, at least to some extent by previous dogs.

Long before the days of FIAR, JINW had three dogs: Holly, Ranger, and Sweet. Holly is the very same Holly of today, a 19 year old Husky mix (probably Husky/Lab). Ranger and Sweet were Alaskan Malamutes that were bred by a dog sled racer. One of the other dogs in the litter was “Sour.” No joke, there was Sweet and Sour. Anyhoo, the dogs were not only bred, but raised to pull a sled. As such, they were proficient at escaping their confines and making a run for it.

Sadly, and predictably, this resulted in Ranger and Sweet meeting an untimely demise on the highway. From what I hear, the guy who found them (hit them?) was alert enough to notice that the dogs were tattooed. Dogs get tattooed when they are valued highly, so he realized that they were no mere strays. It was a traumatic experience.

Holly is getting old.

When I came along, there was Holly and Sheba. Sheba was a German Shepherd, and was trained as a police dog, but she was too timid to be a police dog. So she was expertly trained, but docile as could be. She used to follow me from room to room, walking in perfect heel position any time I would move. At the age of 7, she was afflicted with cancer of her entire lymph system. She was wasting away. Her fur was falling out and she wasn’t eating. She would have starved to death over the next few days or the next few weeks, so I had my Dad take her to be euthanized. (I was too much of a sissy to do it myself)

Sheba was the best dog a person could have.

Four days later, we got Isis at a shelter. Isis is a border collie/black lab like Sammy, a dog I had when I lived with my parents. Sammy’s still alive and he’s still got my Mom trained pretty well. So when JINW found Isis, she thought that would be the perfect dog for me.

Isis was named “Onah” at the shelter. I don’t have any idea what the eff an Onah is, but I was trying to think up a name that I liked, and I kept thinking of Egyptian stuff, because “Sheba,” in a looser regional sense anyway, reminded me of that sort of thing. I figured out that “Isis” seemed to sound good, and was a pretty prominent figure as well, so everyone agreed upon the new name.

Isis – She really is the Queen of the household.

It didn’t take long for it to become apparent that Holly did not have the stamina to keep up with Isis. Isis was young, strong, and playful, and Holly was old and arthritic. If we didn’t find a playmate for Isis, Holly would die soon. We kept looking in the shelters for a pal for Isis, but she was not friendly at all toward any of the dogs we introduced her to. She was downright ferocious, in fact.

I thought that if we got a puppy, Isis would realize the general helplessness of the pup, and would be much nicer. She would feel less threatened by a little pup. I didn’t know for certain, but that was my hypothesis.

One of JINW’s co-workers had a dog that had puppies. JINW said they were little white pups, Alaskan Eskimo I think, and they reminded her of Ranger. We decided we would take one, the runt of the litter. She wanted to name him Ranger, but I wouldn’t have it. I said, “Ranger is Ranger. You can’t steal his identity that way.” So I wanted to give a name that was reminiscent of Ranger, but unique to the new pup. I’m sure you’re smart enough to see the relationship between a Ranger and a Scout.

Scout is a total companion dog.

So that’s the dog history, and how Isis and Scout got their names.

Category: Pointless Nonsense