Mulligan James (Our Puppy, part 2)

Once we had traversed our way down the farmer’s very steep hill, (I thought the car was going to flip over.) we made our way to the main highway and started trying to think of a good name for our new little guy.

As a hockey player I lobbied hard for “Puck.” That is, I argued until Annette said “Okay, you can go outside and say, ‘here Puck, here Puck. Come on Puck,’” in a voice that made me realize what that would sound like from a distance.

Okay, we are also a big golf family – Putter? No. Driver? No. How about Bogey? Maybe… Netter looked at me with a big grin on her face and said: “How about Mulligan?”

“Mulligan James,” I said. After all, even if he wasn’t my dog he would, in a manner of speaking, be like a son so I had to name him after me right? I mean, we aren’t having any more children so why not? (Dogs need middle names so that when you yell at them they get the sense that things are different, and they should pay more attention.) We said it was tentative, but in reality we had just given our boy, I mean their boy, his name.

Excited to share our puppy joy we called Grandma and Grandpa who also have a Springer and told them we were on our way for a visit.

Mom and Dad’s dog is part of the reason I gave in. CK really impressed me with his demeanor and behavior. He was sweet with the kids at the time and obviously very loyal.

We took Mulligan over to meet CK, Grandma and Grandpa. Our boy was a big hit.

Grandma loves Mulligan and still spoils him so much that he now jumps at the mere mention of her name, eagerly looking for a treat.

But then Mulligan was a hit everywhere we took him. Annette brought him to Kailey’s softball games and the girls fawned over him.

Our girls carried him everywhere, up and down the stairs, down to the basement to watch movies – everywhere. They pampered him like a king.

They carried him so much that one friend even asked me if my girls knew Mulligan could walk.

I was just happy they were following through on their promise and I was still trying to keep my distance from this all too adorable, endearing puppy dog.