Our little Vader

Vader and the kids

We got a dog right around Halloween. We got him from ARF (Animal Rescue of Fresno). He is part Dockson, part Chawuawua (sp?)....a little guy. He actually looks like a miniature, stumpy lab, with the face of a pacific flying fox bat: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/Grzimek_mammals/Pteropus/Pteropus_tonganus.jpg/view.html
Anyway, I have wanted a black dog to bestow the name "Vader" on for some time now, seeing as most of you know about my obsessesion with Star Wars (to be more frank, I'm really "possesed"! :p) Never did I realize though just how much he would live up to his name-sake!!

This is a copy from one of my posts in the Jedi Council Forums on TFN:

So by now, you probably all know my new dog's name is "Vader"- but that's not the freaky part....We've been noticing over the last couple of days that he has a "breathing problem". No, really....I'm not sure if dogs can have asthma or what (is there such a thing as a doggy hairball?), but from time to time he will just wheeze - about 10 of them in a row! And it really does sound like Darth, but in fast motion. Creepy! *plays "The Twilight Zone" theme*

Hope this name isn't jinxing him...

And that's not the only thing about this dog... Since we got him from an animal rescue place we know he probably wasn't in the best of circumstances before he was rescued. He was "found" they said, a "lost" dog and they had no idea of where he came from. At first, he was really shy and it took a while for him to warm up to us. It was as if he had forgotten what it was like to be loved, but once he did warm up to us, even now, he still backs away from us when we approach him and quickly steers clear of our feet whenever we are walking around him as if he's used to getting kicked or something! So we think he must have been "beaten" by his previous master(s) Hmmmmm..."beaten" then "lost then "found"...I wonder who this reminds me of!

And so we are teaching him how to "love" again just like Luke does for his father! Hee hee!!

But man, does he ever have a mean streak! Not towards us of course, no...towards sweet, beautiful, innocent decorations and plastic toys! I had decorated my sofa table with fall decor (I'm a decorator ), it was all beautiful with red, orange, and yellow leaves, candlesticks, flowers, pumpkins and a Thanksgiving cornucopia gushing with fruit and gourds. And then I had a rooster made to look like it was a real stuffed one, with real beautiful feathers sitting all amoungst this other decor on the table...it was just the right touch!!

Then we got home from the movie the other night and walk in the door to be graced with TOTAL ANIALATION AND DESTRUCTION!!!!!!! Chicken feathers EVERYWHERE!!

Little Vader had hopped up onto the couch and had easy access to the rooster. Yeah, he had some major fun while we were gone! The poor bird was unrecognizable when we finally found it, so R.I.P. beloved, fake rooster !

"Commander, tear this ship apart!" (Maybe he actually ordered the cat to do it!)

I don't know...first the breathing, the whole rescue bit and now with the killings.... this dog is certainly living up to his namesake a little too much!

Okay...I'm just getting started... We have more than one SW dog in the family. My grandma got a dog about 5 years ago which I encouraged her to name "Wicket". His face and coloring are a total match to the actual Ewok and he IS "a jittery little thing"...even does that same curious, inquisitive head tilt! Eerie.....

Then there's my son's name which is "Trooper". We named him that not because of SW, but actually because my husband always wanted to be a paratrooper in the military (he's had 3 back surgeries, long story). But I CAN say that my son's a little "clone" of me when I was little, looks and everything (no, he doesn't look like a girl...I looked like a boy when I was 3 , but I'm very girly now Let's hope his looks stay masculine! )

Then there's my brother-in-law's girlfriend whose name is "Anaka". Yes, my friends, it's pronounced like "Anakin" but with an "a" at the end like in the name "Christa". It's pretty, of course, but I do get weirded out every time I say her name! And yes, she has to tell EVERYONE she ever comes in contact with that no, her parents didn't get her name from SW! Poor girl...

Then there's (okay, I know I need to stop but I can't help it ) my daughter's name. It's "Kaiya" pronounced K-eye-ya...a name that I just found out DarthIshtar used in one of her SW fics over in that forum. Now Kaiya's name we DID get from something Lucas related. We got it from the movie "Willow". It's Willow's wife's name, if you remember...

More... My hubby just defeated a Sith and won playing on the lightside of the force in the PC game "Jedi Academy"...my hero ! Now he's decided to try the game on the darkside and become a Sith . AND his name starts with "An" !

And HERE'S THE ULTIMATE!!! Come May I might have the perfect EpIII Padme costume for the midnight showing... Yep...We've been thinking about getting pregnant again, not at the moment, but sometime soon. So I probably won't be too far along to make a huge statement, but it might "look" right. Can't start trying too far from now though - I want to be over the puking stadge before C3 ...kind of running out of time....

HOWEVER..... my father isn't my mortal enemy, my mother didn't die when I was very young, I didn't just find out I have a long, lost twin brother and I don't live in another galaxy. Give me a break here people, I have to reach!!

But there are times of the day I DO think I live in a Galaxy Far, Far Away!!

-Britten