Ever Name a Dog or a Cat?

“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” — Martin Buber

If you’ve ever had a pet, especially one you raised from a puppy or kitten or adopted from a shelter, you probably had to come up with a name for your pet. I say had to but naming a pet is one of the fun things about bringing a new animal into your house or world.

I grew up on a farm and still live on a farm. So, I’ve had the opportunity to name many different animals. We even named our cows sometimes although those names were generally related to their colors or something about them. We had a Blondie once. We raised her on a bottle and she was always ready to come to the fence to see if she could get an extra treat of corn or something. We named the lambs we bottlefed when their mothers wouldn’t own them. That happens with sheep. We sometimes named our chickens.

But what we had the most fun naming were baby kittens or a new dog come to live at our house. That didn’t change after I got married and still had new pets to name. After we moved to the farm were we live now, we didn’t have cats anymore. But we’ve named several dogs through our years. I named my very first dog when I was a kid, Ollie. You can read about that on other posts here on my blog. Then when we got a second dog because for some reason people thought I was hogging Ollie, we named him Blue. Then I hogged both Ollie and Blue. Unfortunately Ollie and Blue hated one another but they managed to co-exist fairly peacefully, only getting into a major fight once or twice a year.

After I married, we got a collie shepherd mix that looked like Lassie. He got named Buster. A great dog. He was so little when we got him that I would have to rescue him from the bully hens until he got big enough that he could have taught those hens a things or two but didn’t. Smart dog. One of the best.

My husband had a parade of hunting dogs that he would usually name himself, although we had a little Brittany spaniel that one of my sons named Samantha. We ended up calling her Sammie. That dog could read my mind when she was outside and I was inside. Anytime I needed to take her to the vet, she alway completely disappeared even before I came outside with her leash. My husband liked names that were easy to yell like Pete, Tate, and Bessie. Not sure where that Bessie came from.

I named the dogs I got for pets with some input from the family. I did always have final approval. 🙂 I named my cockerspaniel Jody. Actually, since he was registered, his full name was Honeysuckle Jody. I do remember us having many discussions about that name. My first black lab was an easy and oft used dog name of Max, but it fit.

Other dogs I’ve had came with a name already. Dub, aka Coffee W. Crutcher, a chocolate lab was one of those. So was Oscar, my best dog ever. His name was given to him by the couple who found him on the side of the road somewhere and rescued him. Then, when they couldn’t keep him, they gave him to us. Oscar was a perfect name for him. Current dog, Marley, was already named when his owners needed a new home for him when they decided to do a lot of traveling. Since Marley was already nine, it didn’t seem right to change his name. I did add a little sometimes when I talked to him and called him Marley Charley. Poor Marley has lost his hearing now. So we have to communicate with hand signals or touches, but I still talk to him anyway.

Frankie, my current humane shelter rescue, had a name they’d given him at the shelter, but I didn’t like it. I don’t even remember what it was now. But on the drive home from the shelter where I had to hold him off with one hand while driving with the other hand because he was so scared, I decided on Frankie. Nobody else even got to make a suggestion. LOL. I think I earned the naming rights after that wild ride home. Frankie still goes a little crazy, okay a lot crazy, when he has to get into a car. I wonder if it was because he was shoved out of a car and left to starve along the road by his first people. He was very skinny when I brought him home, but he has recovered from those early lean days.

But pets I’ve actually owned aren’t the only animals I’ve named. I love having my characters have pets. Sometimes a dog. Sometimes a cat. In When the Meadow Blooms, my young sister Sienna even named a couple of crows. A quick recall of names comes up with Jasper in the Hidden Springs mysteries along with cats, Two Bits, Miss Marble, and Grimalkin. Asher was Carlyn’s dog in The Innocent. Jocie had a dog name Zeb, short of Zebedee, in my Heart of Hollyhill books. There was a pup named Rusty in Along a Storied Trail. Dirk had a faithful dog friend named Maisy in When the Meadow Blooms.

In my upcoming release, In the Shadow of the River, I didn’t give my characters a dog or cat since I thought it might be hard to have a pet on a showboat on the river. However, one of the books I read for research did have a young actor bring a dog aboard as a pet even though the captain had forbidden it. On sight of the dog and no doubt, the boy’s begging eyes, the captain relented.

And now as I am on a new story road, I need to name another pet dog in my story. I haven’t really come up with anything great yet. So I’m asking for suggestions.  What would you name a shepherd mix with maybe a little hound in him (male dog) that is the best friend of a nine year old girl who has had plenty of trouble in her young life. Sometimes she feels as though the dog is her only friend. He’s got a shaggy coat, mostly brown with some spots of black and white. He’s a smart guy. The story is set in the Appalachian Mountains so that might figure into his name.

I won’t promise to use your suggested name, but I might if it hits me as the right fit for my imagined dog. If I do, I’ll send you a book as a reward.

So what would you name Ada June’s dog? Or what is a favorite name of one of your pets now or in the past?