Why Ice?

In the 4 months I have had Ice, I have had many a comment about his name.  Some people love it, some people politely try to not show they don't like it, and a very special few have outright been like "YOU NAMED YOUR PUPPY ICE? Like I-C-E, ICE?"  (yes no joke that has been asked more than once).  So let me try to explain why Ice has a not so normal dog name.

First, My Angel With Paws names every litter that we breed after a letter.  This was started after Serena and Jack were named.  Jack's litter was technically the first litter born at MAWP so they should have been the "A" litter but at that point we were still using themes (Jack Daniels, Boones Farm, Grand Marnier if that give a hint on the litter theme).  We then realized to quickly keep track of everyone and remember who is the same age and what not without having to open up the massive filing cabinet, naming everyone in the same litter with the same letter was very effective.  This began with the "B" litter.  But what to do with rescues and donated dogs?  Well, rescues were already being named with the letter "H" and we hadn't gotten to the "D" litter yet so donated dogs were to be named with "D" names (hence Darby). Ice's litter happened to be the "I" litter.

Now "I" is not a very easy letter.  I kept a list on my phone of potential "I" names.  Basically it was anything I could think of that started with an "I" and wasn't completely out there.  (My dad was voting for Ignoramus but he obviously didn't win that argument).  At first I really wanted Illini after University of Illinois, where I went to school.  But I quickly found that unless you went to Illinois or were an Illini fan, no one had a clue what I was saying when I said Illini.  So my hopes and dreams of letting my puppy wear all Illini gear all the time were put aside.

I finally settled on either Ice or Isaac but MAWP still had final say in what he would be called.  I mentioned that the reason I liked Ice was because my last name begins with "T" and so on all his paper work he would be Ice T for the first 2 years of his life.  Apparently, after being up birthing puppies all night, everyone in Florida thought this was just as funny as I did.  Also, my dad decided that if he couldn't call the puppy Ignoramus that Ice would be okay since he could make all sorts of bad jokes about the Titanic and the iceberg and iceberg lettuce and anything and everything to do with Ice.  The final thing that pushed me over (as silly as it sounds) is the song Ice Ice Baby.  For those of you who know me, know that I know the first half of the song by heart and enjoy "rapping" (that is in quotes for a reason) the lyrics randomly.  All right stop, collaborate and listen, Ice is back to with a brand new invention... I regress.

Ice water

Ice was then officially named, along with his siblings, by the person who so wonderfully donated money to specifically help with the birthing and whelping costs of the "I" litter.  So we have Ice, his brother Ike and his sisters Ikia, Irish, Izzy and Indie.  (He also has two sisters who were sold as pets who are named Montana and Bella.)

Ice watching hockey 

So yes, Ice is a slightly weird name.  Yes, it is also the acronym for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Intercontinental Exchange.  Yes, it isn't your typical dog name that has two syllables and is super easy to say.  But it fits him.  He is slightly sassy and slightly weird.

I also get a great kick out of find things that have the word 'ice' in them.  There is a new drink at Walmart called Sparkling Ice, there was a sign in the winter that said "Caution Ice."  During the NHL playoffs that Ice so loved to watch, they would say "icing" all the time.  This would cause Ice to turn his head to watch more.  Plus I get to say "nice Ice" and "easy on the Ice".  I hope that whoever gets placed with him finds his name as fun and entertaining as I do.   

He doesn't melt when the temperature gets over 32* F but that is probably best.