I'm not sure how seriously I was looking for a dog. Tiff will encourage anyone who mentions the word dog to go to animal control and rescue a dog. So we went one day, just to look.
There was something about the little black and white dog that jumped up when we went by. Her eyes were bright, alert, her tail wagging like crazy. But she wasn't adoptable yet, so I had time to think about it.
More importantly, time to think of what to name her. The name that stuck came almost immediately, actually. The mail server at Berry was named Loki, so that was salient. Some recent study of Buddhism, meanwhile, had Avalokitesvara floating around in my head. I thought I'd name her Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Compassion, but call her Loki, the Norse god of mischief.
So, November 4, 1997, Loki came home with me from animal control. She's a good dog. She thinks she's the queen, which she is. She's the only one who sleeps with us. The others are too big and wind up taking up the whole bed.
Loki has a spot (or three) on her side that looks like Mickey Mouse.