How Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Partially Inspired My Dog’s Name
Reader, this past Monday, July 8th, was a very special anniversary in my life: It marked nine years since I adopted my dog.*
I grew up with a couple of family dogs, including Holly, a West Highland White Terrier, and Bear, a mix between a Chow Chow and some sort of husky. But in 2015, as I was approaching my 30s, I decided I was ready for a dog of my own. Not a puppy, because I didn’t have the patience (or the money, frankly) to take care of a baby dog, but rather a young adult dog that I could rescue and rehome.
At the time, I was working for a dog-friendly advertising agency. In fact, they celebrated Take Your Dog to Work Day every year, which was always the very best day.** This holiday included several dog-friendly activities and free swag, and in some years, our office even partnered with the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, who would bring a handful of adoptable dogs to the office for employees and friends to meet.
That year, I met one of the directors of our local Humane Society and told her I thought I was ready to adopt a dog. She instantly started peppering me with questions. What kind of home did I live in? (A loft apartment.) Did I have a very active lifestyle? (...Not really.) Was I open to adopting an adult dog? (Yes, no puppies, please.) Did I have a gender preference? (A girl, maybe?) Did I have any strong feelings about pit bulls? (Love them.)
“I have a dog I think you need to meet,” she said. So I told her I’d come by the next day to do just that.
When I arrived, they brought out a three-year-old “blue” pit bull mix that they’d been calling Luna Belle and told me all about her. She’d been found abandoned near a dumpster with her name tag scratched out. Their best guess at her age was an even three years old. It was clear that she’d had a lot of puppies, so it was a safe assumption that she’d been in a puppy mill.
They told me that she’d been diagnosed with some form of doggy depression. Which explained why she was very timid and very quiet. Not the kind of dog people were lining up to adopt. But I thought she was beautiful, and she seemed very sweet. So I said I’d bring her home.
The name “Luna Belle” didn’t really seem to suit her, though. So I had to come up with a new one.
I’d been thinking that a human name could be kinda fun. A few months earlier, my friend Taylor had entered her dog Ruby in a photo contest, and the people running this contest made a silly design decision to list the owners’ names below the photos rather than the dogs’ names. So we had a good laugh pretending that all these dogs were named Ashley and William and Sarah and Matthew.
I considered a handful of common human girl names that I thought might suit her.*** But the one I kept coming back to was Jessica. In large part because of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, one of my favorite films since I was a child. But it wasn’t until I rewatched the movie a couple years later that I realized just how well the name suited her.
I’m sure that many smart people have written thoughtfully about the Jessica Rabbit character and where she lands on the spectrum of feminism. So I won’t even attempt to wade into those waters. But there’s a particular scene that Jessica shares with Detective Eddie Valiant where she acknowledges her existence as a cartoon created by human hands and laments her overly sexualized appearance.
“I’m not bad,” she tells Eddie. “I’m just drawn that way.”
It struck me that I’d accidentally picked the perfect namesake for a pit bull. Jessica is just about the gentlest dog you’ll ever meet; she’s very lazy, she’s very shy around strangers, and I’ve only heard her bark twice in nearly a decade. Once she gets used to you, she’s very sweet and cuddly. In other words, she’s nothing like the reputation that pit bulls have been unfairly given. A reputation that actually extended to the lease agreement for the apartment complex I was living in at the time, which listed pit bulls among a few breeds that were not allowed.****
Pit bulls may be “drawn that way” in terms of their size and their strength, leading many uneducated people to assume they’re all mean and scary. But as dog owners know, there are no “bad breeds,” just bad breeders who train their dogs to be vicious.
My girl has been nothing but good.***** She may not catch any frisbees, and her bladder might be failing her in her senior years more regularly than I would like, but I’m thankful that she’s been my sidekick for nine years and counting.
*I’ll be honest, I did the math wrong at first and thought that this was the special 10-year anniversary. But then I figured there’s no reason to wait until next year and I should cherish her while I can, so she’s getting her flowers a year early.
**It was June 21st, by the way. You just missed it! Maybe next year.
***I’m happy with my decision, but some days, I think Jennifer would’ve also been a good choice. I could’ve called her Jennifer Grey because of her fur color. Nobody would’ve put Baby in a corner.
****The best thing about this rule in my lease is that there was a typo: It actually said “pet bull” instead of “pit bull.” Not only did I ignore this rule and adopt my pit bull mix, I dreamed of a scenario where my landlord would try to tell me that I violated my contract and I would take her to court over that misprint. “Your honor, I see no hooves or horns on this animal.”
*****If you agree, one like equals one pat.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is now streaming on Disney+, and it is available for rent elsewhere.
🥹🥹🥹 We love Jessica!!!! 👏
Awww happy adoptaversary!!!