Geek Culture for my Dogs

A couple of weeks ago, when I gave the dogs a bath, I realized that Junebug’s collar was broken. The clasp no longer worked. We had to make the collar as big as we could and slip it off over her head. This was not unexpected. The clasp on Larry’s old collar (bought at the same time) had broken just a few months before.

At that time, I had made a quick dash to the pet store, saw some collars on clearance, picked out a  blue-ish one for him, and we were good to go. I spent less than two minutes on the process.

We have since moved. So this time, we went to a different store. In fact, it was the first time we had been in that particular location. In addition, there was not a handy clearance section. There were just all the collars. And the first collar I saw was a Star Wars collar.

That’s right, Star Wars. And I knew I needed Star Wars collars for my dogs. This first one was green, a Yoda collar, and even though June is dressed in red, if it had been the only one, she might have ended up in green.

As a quick side note, my dogs’ collars match their leashes and harnesses. This makes getting them ready to go out really easy. The blue harness goes on the dog with the blue collar, red harness on the dog with the red collar. Easy for us, also easy for dog sitters. It matters less with just June and Larry, due to their size difference – you’re never going to think Larry’s harness could fit on June. But when we had the Howie monster (his color was turquoise), it was very helpful, as he and Larry were close, but not quite, the same size.

We continued to look down the row of collars, though. The blue section also had a Star Wars collar. This one, instead of being Yoda, was the Rebel Alliance and X-Wing fighters. And then there was the red section, and yes, there was a red Star Wars collar – Darth Vader and the Dark Side.

Junebug got her new collar. And Larry got a new one, too. Because really, I can’t just have one dog in a Star Wars collar, not once Star Wars collars are options.

It is important to note that they each got the collar they got because of the color, not the pictures on the collars. But when showing a friend the pictures, she said – but didn’t they get the wrong collars, noticing instead that Junebug was Dark Side and Larry was the Light Side of the Force.

And that answer to that is – No. I get how people who only visit occasionally would think that. Junebug is all sweetness and loves everyone. Larry is my house guardian and is very discriminating. Plus he barks at people. Junebug just gives them kisses.

But if you live in our house, you know a different side of the dogs. Larry is much like Luke in the first movie – he can be annoying and whiny, but he learns quickly, takes direction very well, and is loyal to a fault.

Junebug, on the other hand, as loving and sweet as she is, is also the source of all destruction in our house. Recently a pair of scissors got left on our bed. They are now a barely usable pair of scissors because she needed to chew the handle. And this is not a sign that Junebug needs more chew toys. Our house is full of chew toys. She doesn’t chew them. She only chews things like scissors, or kitchen utensils. (I swear she’s going to cut her tongue off one day. Not too long ago, she managed to get the filleting knife off the counter. I don’t even know why the filleting knife had been out, but she had it.)

The point being that not only did their colors end up matching still for their harnesses, but also the collars they got are right for their personalities.