Abby Sunshine

Yes, Abby pants. She’s a dog. What would you do if you had just been running like crazy?? - no, not as the person you are, but as a dog? You’d pant, yes, that’s what you’d do.

I found some definitions for the word “pant” and I’d like to think we share this quality with Abby Sunshine in more than one meaning. . .

1. (noun) pant 
the noise made by a short puff of steam (as from an engine) 

When I think of this meaning, I can hear little Abby puffing away, like a little steam engine. She’s actually a lot like  the little engine that could – dogified! (I don’t think dogify is actually a word, but I’m using it to as a way of  making the little engine into a dog). Abby does have an excellent attitude like the little engine in the story. I bet she’d say “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” What about you? How is your attitude?

2. (noun) trouser, pant 
(usually in the plural) a garment extending from the waist to the knee or ankle, covering each leg separately 
“he had a sharp crease in his trousers”

OK, this one pertains more to us than Abby. I have yet to see her wearing a pair of pants. What kind of trousers do you prefer? I’m a jeans girl myself. Abby would probably go for more of a furry fabric – maybe corduroy? Other thoughts?

3. (noun) gasp, pant 
a short labored intake of breath with the mouth open 
“she gave a gasp and fainted”

I haven’t known Abby to gasp and faint, but as you can see in her photos, she does take in her breath with her mouth open. After exercise, her breaths in and out seem to be short. I feel the same myself after running fast. Like Abby, I haven’t panted so hard that I gasped and fainted, though. . . .

4. (verb) pant, puff, gasp, heave 
breathe noisily, as when one is exhausted 
“The runners reached the finish line, panting heavily”

I bet we all have this one in common. . .what do you think?

5. (verb) pant 
utter while panting, as if out of breath 

Luckily, we don’t pant quite as rigorously as a dog would. Though we can relate to meaning #5, we usually describe a dog as panting while we people are simply “breathing heavily.”