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Our pal Frankie has asked that everyone take some time on their blogs on July 4th to explain where our names came from. While there are rules to this game, we Siberian Huskies are notorious for not following the rules. So, in our case, we are going to take a post every day this week and explain where each member of The Herd’s name came from. We will, at least, finish on July 4 – the day when everyone is supposed to post their stories. Fair enough?
We should also take a moment to explain that every member of The Herd has his/her own page here, including past members of The Herd. So some of these stories have already been posted, but we still will take the time in the blog to do so.
Today’s entry is Queen Natasha the Evil. Our resident alpha, queen of the entire domain – and don’t ever forget it.
Born June 10, 2003, Natasha is the only member of The Herd to come here as a puppy. We had had a particularly rough summer, having just lost our beloved Ginger on June 23 and received a terminal diagnosis on Cocoa (who passed on August 27), and the hu-dad was reeling. Somehow, the thought of a cute, sweet, innocent 8 week old puppy sounded appealing. Instead, we got Natasha.
The reality was that there was very little debate about her name. As the puppy picture above shows, she stepped into the house as royalty and demanded a royal name. Our first Siberian Husky was named Nikita, a solid Russian name, and we wanted another Russian name. We selected the most angelic name, Natasha, which really means nativity (or Christ’s birthday). Ok, so naming a dog born half way around the year from Christ’s birthday was a given that the dog was not going to act angelic. Shrug. But remember that Russian theme as it will be important when we explain Rusty’s name later this week (honest).
Her full AKC name is Natasha Montagne Gincoa. Montagne for our love of the mountains. And Gincoa as a combination of the names of Ginger and Cocoa, the two dogs we lost so close together, but who created room in our house for Natasha to join.
Princess Natasha and her mentor, Nikita
What surprised us was that Nikita actually showed maternal instincts. She had never shown any desire to be responsible, but she suddenly took Natasha under her paw and taught her everything. One of my great memories, which I have told before on this blog, was stepping out and calling for Nikita to come inside. She came walking up to the house with this puppy, Natasha, clamped to her neck like a pendant on a necklace, her back paws barely touching the ground. Ok, maternal instinct Siberian Husky style, but you still had to give Nikita credit.
Natasha trying to get Nikita to play
And Nikita continued to show her maternal skills as she trained Natasha through that first Christmas season in how to respect the Christmas tree. Because of this close connection, Nikita became known as Mama Bear and Natasha, naturally, became Baby Bear – a name that I still use often to this day. When Nikita passed August 23, 2006, Natasha mourned for several weeks before she snapped out of it and became the Queen of The Herd that she is today. Nikita, we have no doubt, is proud of her protege who rules The Herd with an Iron Paw – Queen Natasha the Evil.
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You were one cute puppy! Great to hear your story!
Thanks for sharing!
Kodi x
O Natasha, I am fallin so in love wif each of you… and my the Mom, who reads over my shoulder, gets leakier and leakier!
Paws down, you are some of my most favoritest pups and peoples on earf. And I don’t say that lightly!
wif love from the Luke
I love your idea of posting one per day. I would get all confused if you did it all at once. And also, we readers are lazy… as a rule. So, despite the designated pages, this is really helpful and fun.
Am I right, Queen Natasha the only puppy not evil just Alpha?
If you’re wondering what I just wrote… it’s my way of trying to remember. Wish me luck.
Twinkie
It’s always neat to hear the stories of how each of our friends came to be in their wonderful loving homes, how they got their names, and some about their personalities, etc. The CCC
Great story! 🙂 I love the pictures of Natasha and Nikita! 🙂
Mochi
Oh goodness, Natasha was the cutest pup! Of course she is still beautiful.
A royal name seems only right for such a princess.
We love hearing the stories that go along with the names!
xx
Very nice story. I was thinking Rocky and Bullwinkle 😛
Once again, Dennis so knows!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
That is so sweet. I told my husband that I love having Sagira here with our older 3. She will always have a piece of each of them in her. She has learned so much from all 3 of them.
We just love that puppy pic – all e can think is mini-princess:)
Great game, we may have to break the rules too.
Woos – Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara
I am going to love to know about all your names!
Natasha, being the Queen, took the first spot!
Thanks for sharing her story!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza
I always love to hear Queen Natasha stories.
Hey, I coming overs from Frankie’s blog. I am a doxie but nows that I hears coyote doggies are evils, I e wondering if maybe I might be coyote too….hmmmmm, I will ponder this laters.
I so love your name story. So Natasha is da queen, I likes knowing ya’ll has an alpha female…hehehe. Just da way it should be.
Okays, I goes and read up mores bout da herd.
Oh, BTW, we lives in SC
Puddles
What a wonderful story.. Natasha you go ahead and rule.. We have a “Flying Dragon” in our house.. She is a real Pest…
Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie
That was a nice story on how you picked her name! Isn’t is sad how the pets know when they have lost a member of their family.
Have a great day!
Deborah
We love the story of Natasha’s name! And getting to hear about the early members of the Herd!
Love,
Ammy
What an awesome story! And what a great idea! I can’t wait to read more about how your crew earned their names.
You forgot “Her Supreme Overlord”. 🙂
What a great story. I love how Natasha learned from Nikita…so fun to see the different dynamics between dogs.
Nala & Amber
I love the idea of telling the name stories for a week! I’m going to enjoy this a lot! I remember Natasha’s story, but I melt every time I see that puppy picture of her!
Natasha, you’re a true queen. I’m glad to know more about you and the origin of your name from your hu-dad. Can’t wait to hear about the stories of other names too.
Those are great pictures. Is Natasha still the resident evil? She sure doesn’t look like she would be!
Sam
Could there be a cuter puppy than Natasha?! That photo is absolutely adorable.
Very nice story! Cant wait to hear about the rest of the herd!
Cheers,
Maxx
Hey, Hu-Dad:
I love all your stories about your pups. I don’t know anyone who “knows” their pups any better than you do or tells better stories about them. Just purely wonderful stuff!
Kisses,
Stella
wait: NATASHA was clamped to Nikita’s neck or was Nikita holding Natasha by the neck. i’m so confused!
and for the record: “the evil” is just redundant with “siberian husky.” ok, maybe not totally redundant… but really, they’re all mostly evil. right?
Love the story!
Natasha had her jaws clamped around Nikita’s neck, dangling like a pendant. Our best guess is that Natasha was trying to wrestle Nikita and Nikita basically ignored her. So you had this grumbling puppy just holding on as Nikita walked around the yard.