Speaking of introductions, I’m not sure we’ve ever properly introduced our pup, Fresca.

She’s certainly been featured in many posts the past few years - it’s hard to do anything without her. She came to us not even two weeks after our last dog, Sasha, had passed. I’ll share the few things about her that dog people ask when they meet us.

The name

We often get the response to her name, “Oh like the soda!” I had never heard of the Fresca soda brand, so that’s not where her name came from. Her given name for all of two days was “Dolores” (more on that later), which we weren’t fond of. So we got to thinking of a new one. Initially, being a redhead, we wanted to call her Fresa (“Strawberry” in Spanish), but it was missing the hard consonant that makes a good dog name. So Fresca it was.

What is she?

People don’t usually wait for me to answer. They say “(German) Shepherd, and ???”. Well we thought that at first too, but unlike a shepherd, she was unusually quiet. So a DNA test it was! The verdict? 1/2 Rottweiler, 1/4 Doberman Pinscher, and 1/4 Anatolian Shepherd (This doesn’t look like a German Shepherd). If I mention the DNA test, I often get an “I don’t believe it.”

She must have a lot of energy

Well, here’s the thing. She’s weird and pretty much does what she wants. Sometimes it’s lots of playing and running, other times it’s just sticking next to you and being lazy. Even after 4 years, I can’t really predict what she’ll be in the mood for. Unless it’s food. She can always eat.

Did you rescue her?

Yes, and she’s even a San Francisco native. She was picked up at Dolores Park by Animal Care and Control. Knowing her prowess for sniffing out food, I’m not surprised she was found there. But the most interesting detail came from Animal Care and Control’s logs (they seem to document everything). They cited an interview with a homeless person at the park and said she had belonged to someone else, and was named… Sasha.

Is she a social media star?

Not quite, but here’s a link to her Instagram account: Fresca The Pup

And one non-question, but more a random thought:

I thought we would have to give her back

Amusingly, I was very nervous during our trial week with Fresca. Tinna was skeptical about taking on a puppy (she was ~7 months old) who was untrained. And the first day we left her at home, I somehow left a cardboard box nearby, and I thought that was the end.

Clearly, after a senior dog, we were not quite prepared to handle a puppy.

Every time she had an accident in the house, I thought that was the end. Of course that didn’t happen, and it was only the beginning. We did manage to get her trained after a bit, and 4+ happy years later, we’re together still.