The title of today’s post calls to mind the old joke: My dog has no name. How does he smell? Awful.

Well, it did call that to mind, until something else slipped into my mind. Something whistling in the dessert.

The man with no name.

Now where that memory came from, I have no idea. I’m not sure that I have ever chosen to watch a western – well, apart from Doris Day in Calamity Jane – and yet, the genre has somehow wormed its way into my cultural capital. So much so, in fact, that I now can’t look at this sweet little dog, without a half hope of finding a cheroot, tucked into the corner of its mouth.

Maybe that’s just me. And anyway, I’m not sure Clint Eastwood is such a fine role model for a handsome young Border terrier like this. I thought I had better check before going any further, so had a go at reading some plot summaries of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. It turns out, reading about it isn’t much quicker than watching the film.

I’ll just play “The Black Hills of Dakota” a few times instead, and get this wild west thing out of my system the easy way.

This dog has no name, by the way, only because I have yet to learn it. It is a bit like Jack, in the exciting and wholly unpredictable denouement of The Importance of Being Earnest:

Gwendolen. [To Jack.] My own! But what own are you? What is your
Christian name, now that you have become some one else?

Jack. Good heavens! . . . I had quite forgotten that point. Your
decision on the subject of my name is irrevocable, I suppose?

Gwendolen. I never change, except in my affections.

Cecily. What a noble nature you have, Gwendolen!

Jack. Then the question had better be cleared up at once. Aunt
Augusta, a moment. At the time when Miss Prism left me in the hand-
bag, had I been christened already?

Lady Bracknell. Every luxury that money could buy, including
christening, had been lavished on you by your fond and doting
parents.

Jack. Then I was christened! That is settled. Now, what name was
I given? Let me know the worst.

And when I know the worst, I will tell you.

But all this time, a Good, I hope, and certainly not Ugly, little terrier has been patiently waiting for its portrait.

All done bar the finishing touches.

It’s nice to see the highlights go in – one of my favourite moments:

If you have a pet, good, bad or ugly, I’ve seen them all, who would like to be immortalised in threads, hop on over to the Commissions Page or head straight to my Etsy shop.