Bran the Blessed

I just added a new member to my household this past weekend, a rescue collie I drove down to Virginia to get. I grew up with collies and was always a collie owner for many years. My last collie died in 1991, and I have had two shelties and a mixed breed since then - but decided I needed a new collie in my life to keep me and Willow (my remaining sheltie) company. So we began investigating collie rescue a few months ago.

And I ended up getting a guy from Virginia after the NJ rescue folks referred me there, as they had no suitable dogs available. His name there was 'Ben' which is a nice strong name, but just did not totally appeal to me, so I have renamed him 'Bran'. I've always liked names that have Scottish/Celtic/Arthurian connections - and Bran fits the bill without changing his name too drastically.

Bran means "raven" - a good name for a black dog. Bran was one of the dogs of legedary Irish hero Finn MacCool. Bran the Blessed was also a legendary hero of Welsh/Irish/early British tales, and part of the Arthurian legends too. Bran is also a character in Susan Cooper's wonderful "The Dark is Rising" series.

Though of course all I seem to get from people are quizzical looks, and jokes about bran muffins, bran flakes and oat bran! But I like the name, and I did this portrait of Bran, based on his photo from the Petfinder page, on this past Saturday, the day before I went down to adopt him.