What’s in a name? Cujo vs Fluffy?
Meet Sasha & Emma aka “White Dog” & “Brown Dog” as their owners kiddingly refer to them. These two are doing well with their obedience training and are just lovely to work with. I found it amusing that their owners refer to them by color from time to time. Very clever.
Many of us call our dog’s by nicknames and from time to time those names might even have a bit of pointed meaning to them. Case in point when I recently caught my pup chewing up my sunglasses and appropriately referred to her as “Little Turd” for the remainder of the day.
When you are thinking about naming your new pup, you should consider that it will be a word you are repeating A LOT in the next 10 plus years. “Cassiopeia, come” might not roll off the tongue easily after a few times hollering it at the dog park. So make sure it is something easy to say and more importantly easy for the dog to notice and pay attention to. Names that rhyme with other members of the family are not a wise choice. And the same rule applies for names that sound similar to obedience commands that you will be teaching the dog. “Trey” and “stay” might cause some confusion when you are teaching the difference between coming when called and remaining stationary in one spot.
A simple Google search revealed several sites that offer thousands of ideas on naming the dog. However, I think it is wise to consider the implication of what the word means. You might be surprised how much the name tends to be reflected in the personality as time goes on. I named my newest pup, Diva, because she pitched a fit for the entire 3 hour drive home when I picked her up near Green Bay, WI. And she has come to really fill the persona. She certainly is learning how to work it for a crowd. It takes her only moments to get someone to rub her belly. What a prima donna!
Don’t forget the old standby, Fido, which means Faithful in Latin, perhaps it truly is the best choice for the companion we all have come to know and love
So now I’m curious, how did you choose your dog’s name?
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Posted On: Dec 1st, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Ruby went without a name for the first few days.
I wanted a name ending in “ee” sound, as I read somewhere years ago animals learn their name faster that way. After throwing around several names, “Ruby” just dawned on me. It was a very gentle, calm name (which I hope reflects on her personality after training!).Afterwards, it came to me that my spouse & my anniversary is July, and the birthstone for July is Ruby. What an accidental coincidence!
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Posted On: Dec 1st, 2010 at 10:24 pm
Mallory came with her name, and we just kept it.
Zeke was adopted to us as “Tre” and we debated for hours over what should replace it. I thought “Zeke” was the coolest name ever (come on, I was in 7th grade) since one of my classmates told us about his guinea pig with the same name, and really fought for it. Mom wanted him to be named “Oscar,” but he was SO not an Oscar.
The dog I’m planning on adopting from the kennels at my vet tech school is named “Clara,” and it might stick. I’ve tried all sorts of different female names, and none seem to stick. “Clara” seems like a name for a strong-at-heart woman, and that fits her to a T as it is.
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Posted On: Dec 2nd, 2010 at 4:16 am
You may have heard this story before, but I have Speck & Tate. They were strays who used to lay in the field behind my training yard and watch my classes. I started calling them the class spectators and once they took up permanent residence, the names just stuck. Schwartz, who was originally named Max, was sort of named after another dog I’d had, who was known as Kyle Schwartz. (We adopted him from the Schwartz family.) Max needed a name less common name, something befitting a beautiful GSD. Schwartzkoff, after stormin’ Norman was the original plan. After a day or 2 with him, it was apparent he was more of a Mel Brooks kind of dog, so he became ‘May the Schwartz be with you” from Spaceballs. Also known as Schwartie-poo.
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Posted On: Dec 2nd, 2010 at 4:20 am
Love it!
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I’ve also heard that it may be a bit easier for dogs to pick up on words that end with vowel sounds. I think anything that has a crisp ending to it is helpful, which is why we always encourage people to use one or at most two short and crisp word commands when communicating with Fido. Too much yammering from us must sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown to them!
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Clara sounds like a great name. I had a pit mix foster last year and we called her Nora. It just fit and had that same solid and stable sound to it.
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Posted On: Dec 2nd, 2010 at 5:20 am
Hopper was named after a friend’s dog. The original Hopper was one of those once in a lifetime dogs, great disposition. This Hopper is also unique. Easy going, funny and friendly with everyone. He eats every meal never standing, but in his (as my niece calls it) Superman position. That means flat on his belly with all four legs spread out to the sides. He LOVES food and will clean all crumbs where ever they drop. My sister thinks we should have named him Hoover.
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Posted On: Dec 2nd, 2010 at 5:21 am
Candace queen of Ethiopia, got her name because my husband loves naming with biblical names, our sons are Isaiah, John, Enoch, Paul and Elisha, our dog just before was Jemima from Job 42:14. Since we knew Candace was pitch black he thought it fit her. Candace queen of Ethiopia name comes from Acts 8:27.
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Posted On: Dec 7th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I purchased two GSD pups with the intention of training them as personal protection dogs for a model friend/client of mine, who went on to pose for Playboy. She was within driving distance at the time, and the plan was to each take a puppy home and switch them every few weeks. She would eventually pick the one she preferred and we would place the other. I named the pup I brought home with me Chaos; seemed fitting for a Playboy’s protection dog, right? 9 years later, Chaos is still hanging out with me; he never actually made it to her house. And he has lived up to his name in every sense of the word
Dingo came with his name from the shelter and it just fit him so well. He looks like he could be a little wild african dog, and has the personality to go with it!
Vixen, our Welsh Springer was purchased with the intention of being a pheasant hunting dog for my husband. She came bouncing into our lives a couple weeks before Christmas, and it seemed a magical flying reindeer’s name suited her. Vixen is also a name for a female fox; a natural predator for pheasant. So it fit!
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Posted On: Dec 9th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Our two year old Sheltie was named Mojo by the original owner. Due to a medical emergency before we got him he had a scrotal urethrostomy and his penis had to be removed. Sounds awful but he is just fine. I did not like the name “Mojo” as it did not fit him at all. Since we have some French ancestors, I tried to find a name that sounded like “mojo”. I came across “Beaujeaux” which is pronounced “Bo-jo”. Then via Google, I found the name of a man from New Orleans named Mister Charles Cedric Beaujeaux. So that’s our dog’s AKC registered name. We call him “Bo” for short, but we know it is spelled Beau which is French for “boyfriend”.
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Posted On: Dec 23rd, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Candace queen of Ethiopia, got her name because my husband loves naming with biblical names, our sons are Isaiah, John, Enoch, Paul and Elisha, our dog just before was Jemima from Job 42:14. Since we knew Candace was pitch black he thought it fit her. Candace queen of Ethiopia name comes from Acts 8:27.
