“It’s perfect that Peppermint is the daycare dog of the month for February because she is all about love,” says Dan Putignano.
At Doggedly Devoted, we know this, too: for many of our shyer under-25-pound-crowd, Peppermint is their first friend at daycare.
Peppermint came to live with Dan, Lisa, and eight-and-a-half year old Nina Putignano in June 2012. Nina chose Peppermint of all the puppies available because she was the most friendly and curious.
Peppermint was originally named Blossom, but the Putignanos wanted to give her a name that reflects her all-white coloring. Nina is the one who struck upon Peppermint. Some of the names that were passed over included Snowball and Popcorn. Lisa and Dan knew as soon as they heard “Peppermint” that it was the perfect name.
Peppermint shares a particularly close bond with Nina: “When I’m sad, we just sit together.” Lisa adds, “If Nina is sick, Peppermint will sit on the bed with her.”
Like many dogs, Peppermint barks at skateboards passing her on the street, but when Nina rides her skateboard in her building’s courtyard, Peppermint doesn’t bark at her. She’s happy just to hang out with Nina while she rides.
“Peppermint makes Nina very happy, and that’s why we got her. But both Dan and I were surprised at how much we also fell in love with her. Sometimes at night when they’ve gone to bed, we’ll talk about the cute things they did that day!”