Air Bud's spawn

Today's post about fourteen-month socks is at Toxophily.

When I got up this morning, Cady Gray was playing with three stuffed animals that came as a promotional item with a Disney DVD. They're dogs dressed up in little space suits -- two American and one Russian -- with removable plastic space helmets. She was specifying which ones were "astronaut dogs" (the ones with the helmets) and which one was the "space dog" ("the astronaut dogs can NOT go into space, only the space dog," she explained to me).

I had never heard of the DVD that the toys were promoting -- Space Buddies -- but Noel eventually worked out that it must be a late-generation Air Bud spinoff (Air Bud begat Air Buddies begat Space Buddies). Cady Gray believed me when I dubbed the Russian dog Laika (actual moniker: Spudnik), and she happily toted Laika with her to the library.

As we entered the children's area and I took Cady Gray's coat off, an older girl came up to her. "What's that?" she demanded, pointing at Laika. "A space dog," Cady Gray responded. Without missing a beat, the girl said, "Oh yeah. Space Buddies."

Later on our way to lunch, Cady Gray asked me, "What's my dog's name again?" "Laika," I said. "Yeah, her name is Laika," Cady Gray announced with her typical authoritative tone. "That's not her real name, but we like this one better."