When I was 2, my Dad went out and bought me a pure-bred Shi Tsu puppy who fit in the palm of his hand and came with official papers and the rather long name: Madam Tish Wong-Yong--we just called her Tishy. Years later we got another Shi Tsu, a male, who we named Nikki Lee, but my grandmother misheard his first name, and never stopped calling him Machine. Now, all grown up and married and stuff, we've got three kitties: Tasslehoff Burrfoot, an orange tabby male named after a character in a book, Onyxablet, Tas's black littermate and named after a black dragon, and Shadow Boxer, a gray female named because she chased her own shadow her first night in the house. Tas also gets called Bubba and Dumb**s, Onyx gets called Ony, and Shadow usually gets called Fat Girl or Fuzzy Bottom-Tail.