the origin of snoot

why is cleolonglegs named after Cleo and not Abby?

There is not much to report from the last two weeks due to THE EXTREMELY AWFUL, VERY HORRIBLE, NO-GOOD HEAT. Abby, our sweet and sad horse, is not built for the heat, so we have been resorting to nighttime walks and pet store outings, much to the snoots’ dismay. Instead of filling you in on all the not-very-exciting activities at the noodle house, I decided to answer one of the most frequently asked questions: why is ‘cleolonglegs’ named after Cleo, and why the heck isn’t Abby’s name included in there, THE F*CK?!

The answer may not satisfy you, but it makes sense to me. Let’s rewind all the way back to 2019, specifically to the Wisconsin State Fair, where we were sitting in the stands watching very professional pooches demonstrate their dock diving skills. Bear with me, as this is all very important scene-setting information. At that time, Dom and I had been dating for almost a year and a half, and while we were watching sweet angel babies launch themselves into a vat of water, we were seriously discussing the possibility of getting a second dog. Abby was unfortunately at home and not privy to this conversation, which is probably for the best because we all know what her opinion would have been on the matter.

The truth was, I had always dreamed of having a dog to call my own. Abby was very much bonded to Dom, and I wanted a relationship with a 2D cryptid horse like that. However, I knew I needed a much smaller dog. I loved Abby’s personality and noodliness, but I wanted a smaller dog that would travel well and be able to hike and adventure with me. During this discussion, Dom mentioned the existence of Silken Windhounds, which honestly took me aback as to why he hadn’t mentioned it sooner. I Googled “Silken Windhound” and immediately knew this was it. Being the manic, obsessive person I am, I immediately joined every single Silken Windhound page on Facebook I could find.

So, while sitting at the State Fair, with my stomach full of gyros, lemonade, deep-fried oreos, and corn dogs, I came across a picture of little Miss Hunny Bunny (who would later become Cleo, our sweet chaos worm). I’ll be honest—I’m just a girl, and I was like, “I want a grey brindle, fancy-pants Silken with blah, blah, blah,” but Dom said, “You’re doing too much. This seems like a good breeder, and I think the tan is really cute. If I’m going to agree to this after only dating for a year (and almost a half), this is your one chance. Message that lady.” So, I wrote a nice little Facebook Messenger message along the lines of, “We have a Borzoi who wants a friend (HAHAHA, NO, ABBY DID NOT AGREE TO THIS) and we are interested in Hunny Bunny…”

Usually, the vetting process for sighthounds is extensive, involving home visits, questionnaires, etc., but because we already had a Borzoi, they assumed we had been approved by other breeders, so we somehow bypassed the process. After some back and forth I finally got the message saying we could pick up Hunny Bunny in a month at the Ohio Classic. I was over the moon.

(This information is not pertinent to the story, but it may be a fun fact to know: Cleo’s litter was alcohol-themed. Her original name was Martini, and she had a sister named Daiquiri, etc. Cleo’s breeder said she was so sweet that they decided to say “screw the litter theme” and just started calling her Hunny Bunny. YAY, CLEO LORE.)

So, fast forward to the week of picking up Hunny Bunny. I had spent HOURS sifting through puppy names trying to find the right one, and I had a very long list of names that I had been adding to for years. None of them felt right. I remember vividly being at the library on the UWM campus. Instead of studying, I was using the computer to look through, you guessed it, baby girl names. On that list, I found Cleo, and it just clicked. I had thought I needed to meet her in person first, but something about the name felt so right. I went home and decided I wanted to create an Instagram account for her to document her growing up. I saw so many Silken accounts, almost all of them were “<dog name>thesilken”, and I thought, “Yeah, I COULD do that,” but also I wanted to be different because I was such a quirky college student getting her first dog 🤪 (kill me). “cleolonglegs” came to mind, and I thought that was just the most clever name ever because she would be a long, noodly dog with hopefully long legs. (Since this is my blog, and Dom never reads or fact-checks it, I will tell you I yelled across the house, “What do you think if I name Cleo’s account ‘cleolonglegs’?” and he said, “Like daddylonglegs? I don’t know if that makes sense, why not just ‘cleothesilken’?” and I said, “You don’t get it,” and then hit submit on the username “cleolonglegs”. He changed his tune this past year and tried to claim that he came up with the name, and LET ME TELL YOU, THE WAY THAT MAN DID NO SUCH THING.)

Now understand, at that time, I was just a girl getting her first dog. Cleo was ultimately for me, and Abby, although a perfect brindle pony, was just my boyfriend of one year’s dog. It didn’t feel right to include her much because she wasn’t REALLY mine. So when I started this account, it was only supposed to be for Cleo. The funny part was, six months later I had a quarter-life crisis like one does, and I moved Cleo and myself to Maine, leaving Dom and Abby behind. And thank god I hadn’t put Abby’s name in the account then—how embarrassing would that have been? While in Maine, I had my first viral video, and that is when I really got into content creation. And all of my videos were about, you guessed it, Cleo. Eventually, Dom wooed me back to the Midwest, where we dated for a few more years before getting engaged and tying the knot. I started including Abby in earnest after I moved back because I knew what my future was going to be, and I knew I wanted her and Dom in it. So I slowly started to incorporate Abby more. During this time, I realized Abby deserved more, so I did make her a page called “abbylongerlegs.” I left it up to Dom to post Abby updates there since I was very busy curating Cleo’s page to include both Cleo and Abby. Not surprisingly, her page fell by the wayside.

Now you might say, “Okay, Abby’s page didn’t work out, but you’re posting her an equal amount on Cleo’s now, SO JUST CHANGE THE USERNAME, YOU SL*T.” To which I would say simply, “NO, IT IS TOO LATE.” ‘cleolonglegs’ is an entity of its own now, and Abby’s name not being in it just furthers the lore that Abby didn’t want to be a part of this circus to begin with. So the username will remain as it is, for all time. Now you know.

the first two photos are the FB pictures we saw of Hunny Bunny being available. the following are some of the very first ‘cleolonglegs’ IG posts. and then a throwback of Dom and the girls :)