… loves dressing up as Boomer from “Here’s Boomer,” he wants it to be his legal name. (
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He’d be his own best friend.
A judge on Wednesday denied a Pittsburgh man’s petition to legally change his name to Boomer the Dog.
Gary Guy Mathews, 44, a self-described “furry” has been dressing up as Boomer for most of his adult life, and is was hoping a judge would grant the name change that Mathews has pondered for years, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported yesterday.
“It took some time to work up the nerve,” he told the paper.
Backing up his bid are friends — including one named Hobnose Bordercollie — who say they already call him Boomer the Dog.
Furries are people who are fans of animals with human characteristics — and who enjoy dressing up as them.
Mathews, a single, unemployed computer technician, said he was inspired by a short-lived NBC show called “Here’s Boomer,” about a shaggy dog that helped people in trouble.
He became obsessed with the program as a teen, and started broadcasting a radio show about the heroic hound from his basement. His classmates soon started referring to him as Boomer.
Mathews has since become a fixture on the furry convention scene, even posting on YouTube a video of himself in his shredded-paper terrier outfit during the 2007 Midwest Furfest.
“Who’s a puppy? Who’s a puppy?” Mathews says in the video, which shows him cavorting with the likes of Donald and Daisy Duck.
Dr. Samuel Conway, CEO of the Anthrocon furry convention in Pittsburgh, told the paper, “I wish Mr. the Dog luck in his pursuit, with the earnest hope that he has chosen a career path for which such a monicker would be of benefit.”