We have been having an active discussion at the firm about the most effective way to encourage engagement on our social media feeds, with a view to hopefully opening the floodgates and attracting swarms of eager new clients from our social media activity.

Do we write and post learned legal articles (which are difficult and time -consuming to craft) or do we just go with cute photos of Labrador Retrievers? Well, the series of firm Facebook posts we did showcasing  ‘The Dogs of DLG” with lots of cute photos of everyone’s pets, far outperformed any of the turgid legal prose we have ever written- the series went practically viral, (in a very modest, lawyer web-site sort of way) So, I’m voting for the cute pups!

SO, PLEASE MEET QUEENIE!

I have been an avid supporter of P.A.D.S ( the Pacific Assistance Dog Society) for a very long time- 10 or 15 years at a guess. They use Willowbrook Shopping Centre, where my old law office was located, as a training ground for their dogs, and it was always a joy to watch the pups being put earnestly through their paces (while trying to resist the urge to pat them!)

A couple of years ago my annual donations earned me an unexpected phone call from P.A.D.S:

“Mr. Green, you have been a most generous supporter for a long time, and so, we would like to show our appreciation by giving you the opportunity to name one of the pups from our next litter!”  Of course I leapt at the chance, and was soon poring over the rather stringent naming guidelines I was given. The process must have taken us a week as we sampled and discarded dozens of names.

I think most pet- lovers will agree, naming a pet is difficult at the best of times- practically as monumental a decision as naming a kid. Certainly each of our pets found their names only after an arduous journey (just ask Hemingway and Pontouffe, (AKA Squirt,) our current crew of resident black cats, or pet alumni Genoux, Cedric the Terrible, or Arthur the Brave.) Our senior partner must agree as well, having named her dogs  Miss Lizzie and Charlie Sheen.(any guesses what traits earned Charlie her moniker?)

And so I laboured- P.A.D.S guidelines nixed any long names – two syllables at most, nothing too silly or rude, and so forth. I wanted a name that had a special connection to my family- Tommy, my father’s nickname would have been ideal, but our chosen pup was a girl, so more head scratching ensued. Eventually, it came to me, in a great sudden brain fart- QUEENIE was the name!

Queenie was also a family nickname- one conferred upon my paternal grandmother, an English war bride. Whether it was earned because of her English accent, or her rather imperious bearing, or her vague resemblance to Queen Victoria in later life I never knew, but my entire life I never heard her referred to other than as “Queenie Green”.  It was, I thought the perfect name- it fit all the guidelines, sported a secret family meaning, and provided a cachet of nobility for a dog doing important work- P.A.D.S agreed, and upon graduation from puppy training she was awarded the name. Queenie subsequently went on to receive advanced training, and she now works tirelessly as a companion dog for a disabled person. I think of her often, and especially each December when I write the cheques for my annual charitable donations.

The owners of the ‘ Dogs of DLG’ agree that involvement with local charities and the community is an important civic duty. We quietly assist a number of local societies with their legal compliance matters, and Rebecca was instrumental in the establishment of LIFTED, the Dallas Smith Charitable organization, in addition to her board work with the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation- but since this post is supposed to be about cute puppies, I’ll mention only the firm’s support for the Langley Firefighters Charitable Society, who partner with the Langley Animal Protection Society to put out an annual fund-raising calendar.

We would encourage readers to drop by the office, even in the absence of a pressing legal concern, to pick up a free copy  of the firefighters calendar ( Miss Lizzie and Charlie Sheen share the title of “Miss September “) – We have an ample supply!