What's in a Dog Name

What's in a Dog Name

What's in a Dog Name? ...

A puppy or dog needs just the right name to live up to, a name that fits his/her personality or his/her appearance or his/her owner's expectations. A puppy's name will be used dozens of times each day. It should be short and sweet, preferably one or two syllables. It should not sound like anyone else's name or like any of the commands that will be used to tell the puppy what you expect him to do.

Some owners bestow plain and simple names on their canine companions --many a Dusty or Rusty, Bob or Blackie, Patches or Spot lives in urban and suburban neighbourhoods throughout the country. Other owners name their pooches after favourite book, movie, or television characters; sports; favourite relatives; or favourite foods; there's a plethora of Sherlock's, Scarlets, Spocks, Sluggers, Sam's, and Sugars around.

Some owners use the Aussie attitude to name their dog like the red cattle dog named blue or a Great Dane named Tiny or Peanut, a Shih Tzu is Superman, a black Cocker is Snowie, or a Mastiff is Pansy.

Some breeders follow themes in naming their litters of puppies like naming them after playing cards like, Jester, joker, jack of spades etc. Some use a variation of the parents' names.

Others name the pups for their attitudes, their potential as a winner, a natural feature, a movie title or character, a favourite recipe, a famous person, a phrase in a song, or a bit of jargon from business, law, the theatre, or other fields of endeavour. Humour is popular, as are spelling variations.

The number of letters in a dog's name is limited, as is the number of dogs that can have the same registered name, so breeders vary the spelling of some names to get the point across within the prescribed number of letters while avoiding duplication. Certain words lend themselves to spelling changes and are appropriate for dog names. There's time, thyme, and tyme; knight, night, and nite; magic, majic, and magique, etc.

Some breeders prefer theme names for their litters. They'll use a variation of the dam's or sire's name, the month or season in which the litter was born, or any other theme that will help identify the pup in the future.

Thus Starry Night has a litter including Night Music and Night on the Town; Caught Red Handed has a litter including Caughtcha Looking, Caught Cheating, and Caught The Brass Ring; and Sara Lee has a daughter called Piece of Cake.

The Indian litter may include Aztec, Kiowa, and Cheyenne; the summer litter may include August Moon, Junebug, and Summer Breeze, and so on.

Many dogs are given names from their breed's country of origin. Rottweilers, Dobermans, and German Shepherds get German names; Poodles, Briards, and Bouvier des Flandres get French names; and British breeds get names like Lady Di and Fergie.

The following themes were found in a single show catalogue. Constellation, an English Springer Spaniel, sired Orion and Perseus; Heartbreaker and Sweet-Heart, Afghan Hounds, produced Mary Heartman; Alpha Centauri and Rescue Me, Siberian Huskies, produced Beam Me Up Scottie;

Marauder and Bushbaby, Australian Cattle Dogs, produced Bushwacker; Holy Moses and Heavens To Betsy, Brittanys, produced Heavens Above; Deal Me Aces, a Cocker Spaniel, produced Deal The Cards, Deal Me In, Casino Girl, and Deal Me Kings;

Mr. Coffee, an American Water Spaniel, sired Mr Espresso; and Sorcerer, another Siberian Husky, produced Daughter of Darkness.

Another thing to consider....

Since no one is going to stand in the backyard and call "Deal Me Aces, come," or enter the show ring saying "Chariots O' Fire, let's go," you should consider the naming your dog something simple and usually around or related to the dogs registered name or something that reminds you of him/her.

Thus The Winds Of Change could be called Pebbles, the Akita Chariots O' Fire is Hoss, Star In Motion is ORion, and Showdown At Big Sky is Sam. Miss Snow Bunny is Snow, Sadie Mae's Midnight Serenade is Sadie, and Deck the Halls is Decker.

Humans attach much significance to a name. You only need to check The WAG (SSDTC Monthly Magazine) when people attain titles and check out the name of the dog that usually precedes the Dogs "common name" or just have a look at the names of the dogs of the new members and you'll see what I mean