cyno

Coco, at 12 weeks, on the day we brought her home. She found some flowers that she liked and decided to pick them!

Coco is very smart and quickly learned many commands such as “sit” and “wait.”

Coco is a smart and adorable Tibetan Spaniel puppy; she is 4 months old in this picture.

Coco is quick to act when she spots an abandoned sock lying on the floor.

At the same time every day, Coco waits at the door for my dad to arrive home from work so she can be the first to greet him!

Happy Valentine’s Day! We have a new love in our lives and I have been very excited to write this post for many months. In September of 2016, we brought home a 12-week-old Tibetan Spaniel puppy. We named her Coco Cuddles, and she is adorable, sweet, and cuddly.

Tibetan Spaniels are a rather uncommon breed, but we have found that this particular breed suits our family perfectly. Coco is loving, lively, alert, smart, playful, and sometimes mischievous. As their name would suggest, Tibetan Spaniels originated in Tibet. They are a very old breed; they are depicted in Asian art dating back to 1100 BC.

Tibetan Spaniels can be many different colors with various markings, but our Coco is parti colored, meaning that she is a mix of different colors – she is white with light sable markings. She is almost 8 months old now and weighs 8 pounds. Her adult weight will be between 13 and 15 pounds, so she won’t really gain much more weight.

By now, you’ve probably guessed that the word cynophilist has something to do with dogs! Cynophilist comes from the Greek roots cyn-, meaning dog, and phil-, meaning love so the word means “dog lover.”

Are any of you cynophilists?

To see more pictures of baby Coco, go to Briallu Tibetan Spaniels – Coco’s litter name was Penelope.

What would you name this "dog bird?"

This semester, I am taking a fabulous etymology class called The Witty Wordsmith. Recently, the instructor challenged the class to name weird animals that people had created using Photoshop. We had to use our knowledge of Greek and Latin roots to name the animals. I had a lot of fun doing this assignment so I have created my own challenge and I hope you all enjoy it.

Pretend that you are a scientist and you have just discovered this new species of bird and you have the privilege of naming your species. Scientists usually name new species by using Greek or/and Latin roots because the prefixes, stems, and suffixes are just like building blocks that you can utilize in countless ways.

Your challenge is to name the unique animal in the picture above using your knowledge of Greek and Latin roots. Keep in mind that you can use characteristics like size, color, or shape to name the animal. Feel free to search my blog to find root words to help you or use the list below.

Greek:
cyno          dog
cephal                        head
soma, somat           body
pter                             wing, feather
ornith, ornis            bird

Latin:
avi bird
can dog

Submit your names by leaving me a comment!