A judge will take a couple days before deciding whether a Pittsburgh-area man can legally change his name to "Boomer the Dog."

The man who went to court Tuesday is 44-year-old Gary Guy Mathews, of Green Tree. A fan of a short-lived NBC television series called "Here's Boomer" that featured a dog who rescued people, Mathews hopes to legally change his name.

The 44-year-old said that while a teenager, he was fascinated by the show and during high school other kids began to call him Boomer.

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.

Mathews is also an enthusiast of Anthrocon, an annual convention of people dedicated to anthropomorphism - or the practice of attributing human characteristics to animals. They con has been held in Pittsburgh five times every summer.

Mathews said his friends already call him Boomer, as did his late parents - though conceded that it did take some persuading for them to do so.

After years of thinking about the name change, Mathews, who is single, began the legal process early this year, which included getting his fingerprints checked through a state police criminal records database.

"It took some time to work up the nerve. I treated it like a science project," he said.

He filed for the name change in June.

Allegheny County Judge Robert Folino said he needed to research Mathews' request but said he could nix it if the name change resulted in "unintended consequences" like being "seen as bizarre."

During Tuesday's hearing, he questioned Mathews on if he might just change his first name to Boomer and if he had been paid to perform as the dog.

The unemployed computer technician said he had not been paid, "but it would be nice if I would be."

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