Furry Tries To Legally Change His Name To "Boomer The Dog"

Gary Guy Mathews. A perfectly good name. But Mr. Mathews wants to officially be known as Boomer the Dog, to go along with his homemade fursuit.

Pittsburgh is ground zero for the furry movement, hosting Anthrocon, the annual celebrations of all things manimal (and playing havoc with whichever visiting MLB team happens to be staying at that hotel). So it's no surprise that it's the Allegheny County Courthouse is playing host to the greatest drama of our times: a man attempting to be fully subsumed by his fursona.

As if you didn't know, the name Boomer the Dog comes from a very short-lived NBC show in the early 80s called . Boomer was "a stray dog who travels the country helping those in trouble."

In high school other kids began to call him Boomer and he broadcast a radio show about the dog from his basement. By adulthood he was dressing as the shaggy-haired dog at conventions and parties, for the last few years in a full-sized Boomer suit made of shredded paper.

Early this year he began the process of legally changing his name to Boomer The Dog, noting many of his friends already called him that: one of his exhibits in a hearing Tuesday before Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald W. Folino was a letter addressed to his adopted name from a friend named Hobnose Bordercollie.

Here's Boomer in action:

Mathews ("who is single," the newspaper helpfully reports) will find out the judge's decision in a few days. His request could be rejected if it "causes confusion in the community" or is "seen as bizarre." But to his friends in the community, the legal stuff is a mere formality. Says the CEO of Anthrocon:

I wish Mr. the Dog luck in his pursuit, with the earnest hope that he has chosen a career path for which such a moniker would be of benefit."

Man tries to get his name legally changed to Boomer the Dog [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]