From the age of 13 to 28 I shared life with Bonanza.. a German Shepard. Bonanza was her name. I've mentioned her many times over the years.
So her name - - "Bonanza". I named her within seconds of meeting her. About a year or so later an aunt came to visit me and asked, of course, what the name of my dog was. When I informed her she immediately told me it was a 'mistake'... because dogs can't handle anything over 1 syllable. She told me Bonanza would as easily answer to "BO" as Bonanza.. the 'nanza' was irrelevant.
Well I was offended. MY dog was 'smart'... genius level, smarter than my aunt, (I didn't tell her that, but I believed it). So my aunt set out to prove she was right and I was wrong....
we go outside. Bonanza was relaxing in the shade. My Aunt calls out "BO"... no reaction. So she let loose a barrage of "Bo's"... "BO, BO, BO, BO"... I objected that this was in essence more than one syllable... but I was worried for nothing.. Bonanza didn't react.
My aunt KNEW she was right... and the reason Bonanza didn't respond was because it was her voice and not mine. She asked me to call out "BO"... and I did, and no reaction.
Still sure she was right she decided Bonanza was ignoring us and wouldn't come to "BO" or "Bonanza". Thus, to prove her point, she called out "Bonanza"....
Bonanza immediately rose and trotted towards us. When Bonanza got to us she looked up at me and it was quite easy to read her quandary... "Who is this idiot?". "That's Aunt Judy", I replied.
"Well I don't care for her much", Bonanza replied... then got her scratch behind the ears and went back to the shade. Life is short and Bonanza had no time for dense elitist aunts. - JamesJM
