It’s not the biggest secret on Choppy’s pages that ‘Choppy’ is not Choppy’s full name.

Nope. Her full name is Tchoupitoulas.

To be clear, I did not make this word up.
To be clear, I did not make this word up.

Obviously, with a name like that, there has to be some sort of a back story. And that’s what you’re getting for today’s Dog Blog Challenge.

For years, my sister and I have been going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We love it, and over the years we have had more than our fair share of adventures on our long weekends in the Crescent City.

That my birthday regularly falls smack dab in the middle of the Mardi Gras festivities only heightens the fun.

One of my bigger birthdays so far – my 30th birthday – happened to fall on Ash Wednesday – the day after Mardi Gras and the reason for the [Mardi Gras] season. My sister and two of our friends spend the days before Mardi Gras enjoying the parades and more than a bit of the fun that Mardi Gras in New Orleans offers (read: We drank. A lot).

Then, the fun over, I got home and turned 30. The next weekend arrived, and it was definitely not as much fun as the previous weekend in Louisiana. So, I made what would prove to be a fateful decision: I took a trip to the local humane society out of boredom.

In related news, never let a single woman who just turned 30 and is coming off of a great weekend go to the humane society by herself. She might impulsively decide that a cute puppy named “Maddie” is a great idea.

Unsurprisingly, the humane society did not give a dog an absurd name like "Tchoupitoulas."
Unsurprisingly, the humane society did not give a dog an absurd name like “Tchoupitoulas.”

As you can probably guess, the name “Maddie” didn’t stick around for long.

And so, somewhere on the ten minute ride from the humane society to my house (and after the new puppy christened my car by having an accident on the front seat), “Maddie” became “Tchoupitoulas” – the name of a street in New Orleans. In that first picture above, Choppy is at the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Canal, where they have a plaque with the street name cemented into the sidewalk.

And, not being cruel – and because Tchoupitoulas is an absurd name for a dog – I immediately gave the fluff ball the nickname of Choppy, which she has answered to ever since.

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