First Night (and Day)
Freighter is settling in nicely. He had a bit of a sleepless first night because we did not get home until late and although we let him explore, it was still a strange place. He fell asleep, but then woke up and howled, (yes howled). I checked on him and he came out of the crate with his tail wagging ready to play, so I think he was sandbagging just a little. Still my husband ended up spending the night with him on the floor.
Yesterday we worked on him spending some time in the crate–eating, sleeping, waking up and playing with his toys all inside the crate so that he would feel comfortable in there.
We had one of our cars in for some work so we had to go out briefly to drop it off and pick it up. He spent a couple short periods home alone for the first time (Thunder and Storm were in their crates in another room). When we returned home, he was dead asleep in his crate.
Of course he got out to play a bit.
~
~
Potty training is going well. We have a sort of pen set up and we put him in it and he already knows to go potty in there. We have been taking him out a lot, but he is also starting to try to tell us when he wants to go out. One time he went to the door wall and looked outside. We missed that he meant he needed to go out. Oops! Clean-up required!
~
~
Thunder and Storm have kept a respectful distance from his crate. We let them all kind of sniff each other, but it will be a bit before they actually get to hang out together. Today we just want them to feel comfortable in the same room. Little by little Thunder is making his way closer to Freighter’s crate.
What Is In A Name?
Jodi Stone shared a couple of great guesses for the new puppy’s name. She thought that maybe we would stick with the weather theme and go with “Lightening” or maybe “Thor”. Good guesses, however, we went in a bit of a different direction, but not completely.
Thunder’s registered name is SRR’s North Point Thunder Bay.
From Wikipedia:
Thunder Bay is a bay in the U.S. state of Michigan on Lake Huron. The bay extends from North Point at
45°01′19″N 83°15′58″W to South Point at
My husband had duck hunted at the North Point a time or two, and that is how we came up with North Point Thunder Bay aka Thunder.
Then Storm came along and the night we picked her up there were terrible storms. We kicked around a couple of names but keeping with our Great Lakes and weather themes, we settled on Irish’s Great Lakes Nor’easter aka Storm.
So when we were thinking of names for the new guy, we wanted to keep with the weather theme, but also the Great Lakes theme. The Great Lakes have a long maritime history which unfortunately includes shipwrecks. In the Fall, the weather conditions over the Great Lakes can generate some strong winds (or gales). Many ships have been lost during the month of November. During the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, (November 7 through November 10, 1913), 19 ships were destroyed and 19 ships were stranded. There have been other Great Lakes storms that have resulted in shipwrecks, many during the month of November. If you are curious about this topic, see Great Storms of the North American Great Lakes.
One of the most famous Great Lakes shipwrecks was the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10, 1975 during a gale on Lake Superior. The ship had been trying to reach the safety of Whitefish Bay when it was lost. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located at the light station at Whitefish Point which is at the mouth of Whitefish Bay. The museum has many artifacts on display from various Great Lakes shipwrecks. We have visited Whitefish Point and the museum on a few occasions.
~
Gordon Lightfoot wrote the ballad titled “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald“ in tribute to the lost ship and crew. In that song he used the phrase “Gales of November”.
The pup was born in November so we decided to use that phrase in his name and since we try to stick some form of the word “north” in all of our dogs’ names, we came up with SRR’s Northern Gales Of November aka Freighter.
Aw, look at him. And amazing that he is already indicating when he needs to go out! I love that outdoor pen too, what a great idea!
Such a handsome pup! Just love him!
Freighter looks like such a confident little guy. It sounds like your first 24 hours went extremely well! I love the depths you guys have gone to to pick your dogs names. What a great tidbit of history to go along with it! Well, I think this little guy is just a natural shoe in for your family and what a smart little cookie too! Enjoy!
Oh there are so many things I love about this post! 1) that your hubby spent the night on the floor with him. Brings tears to my eyes. The world needs more men like this!
2) That you really did stick with the weather theme (if I lived in your area and had a smarter brain, I might have come up with this.) LOL
3) You gave some great links and information in this post, I think I would love to visit the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. I think I may spend the day checking out your links.
4) I love the way you are introducing Freighter to his new brother and sister and his crate. So many people just don’t get the crate.
5) I love that Freighter has a booda toy with his mama’s scent on it. I wish I had known about that when I brought Sampson home.
I’m sure there’s more but I don’t want to make this a blog post. 🙂
Thanks for sharing so much about Freighter and thank you for the shout out!
So adorable. Love the name and this brings back so many memories. Congrats on the new baby. : )
He’s settling in well! Love the name and the meaning behind it!!
AROOOOOF!
Boondocks & The Love Shack Pack
Hi Y’all!
That is the most beautiful Chessie pup ever!
Y’all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
I love picking out names. I often do in advance, and I have a document all set up for when inspiration takes me.
It’s also a lot of fun picking their registered name, too. Twice the naming joy!
What a great story of how you came to name little Freighter! He is such a cutie. Thanks for sharing all these pictures- we love the one of Thunder checking Freighter out…priceless! We’re looking forward to watching him grow– congrats on your new addition!
Welcome home Freighter. So looking forward to getting to know you. Loved the stories of how the dogs were named.
Wow, Freighter is really growing fast! I can already see the dog emerging from the puppy! How fast he’s adjusting to his new home and learning, too – you’ve got a real smarty there! Interesting stories behind their names, I always love it when there’s deeper meaning to a name. 🙂
He is home! That picture of him sitting in his run outside is super cute!
I wish I was clever enough to pick a theme for dog names. Now I want to go visit the great lakes! Thanks for sharing the links and logic behind Freighter’s new name!
Freighter is such a unique name, and we love the reasoning behind it.
Plus he is the most adorable cutest ball of fluff we have ever seen!
Slobbers
xx
That name is bigger than the pup! Glad you decided on Freighter! woo woo woo!
Very nice! It’s fun coming up with names and you guys came up with a good one. He looks pretty comnfortable already 🙂
Looks like he is settling in well, and quite clever already. I love how you came up with the name, I still have not gotten my husband to think of a registered name for wyatt. Not that he will ever compete with him anyhow.
Anna
http://www.akginspiration.com
I’ve so enjoyed catching up on your blog this evening, and am remembering bringing home our Scottie, Todd, and how he met all the Goldens. We did the same things and now all are getting along wonderfully! I’m going to look forward to getting to know your precious addition, and watching him grow–That I’m sure if you look closely, you can see happening!! 🙂
Loved reading the stories behind the names. I tried to get creative like that with Sherman’s name.
His registered name was suppose to March to the Sea, after General William Techumseh Sherman. However, no one but me liked it!
He is ADORABLE!
Wow, you all put a lot of thought into your dog’s names…very interesting post. That little cutie seems to have made him self right at home. What a sweet, sweet face he has. Hugs and nose kisses
Woohoo!! Freighter has arrived!! I love his name and i love him, he’s soooo cute!! I sure could have fun playing with him!!
He’s so clever too, already telling you when he needs to go out, I guess he just has to be patient with training you guys?! Tee Hee
Can’t wait to follow his adventures too,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Freighter is a wonderful name, especially meaningful to those of us who in the Great Lakes region! He sure is doing well and we love reading that Thunder is checking him out and that your Hubby slept with him his first night. 🙂 It has to be horrible hard on puppies with all those changes all at once but good people, like you, make the change easier. Give him a hug from us!
God Bless You!
The Collies and Chuck 🙂
The story behind his name is really cool. I love that it links to Thunder and Storm!
I really enjoyed hearing about the stories behind the names for your guys.
Congratulations! Freighter is precious (and all puppy, right?)!
I love the name and the way in which you chose it; thanks for sharing that.
Happy puppy days – may you sleep at night, too!