There's been a lot in the UK media about dog names and what they reflect about the owners. What's your dog called, and which category do you fit into?
I suspect that the two things that take the most effort with a new puppy are toilet training, and choosing a name. What’s your dog called, and how long did it take you to decide? The name is important. To paraphrase Shakespeare – and to paraphrase him badly – would a dog by any other name smell as much?
I suspect that the two things that take the most effort with a new puppy are toilet training, and choosing a name. What’s your dog called, and how long did it take you to decide? The name is important. You’re going to have to say it a lot and in public it can reveal a lot about your attitude to your dog, what you expect him to be, plus it’s got to be fairly short and snappy so he recognises it. To paraphrase Shakespeare – and to paraphrase him badly – would a dog by any other name smell as much?
When I went to Good Citizen training classes with Buddy we met a lot of new people and dogs. Which was great for us both. Except that I'm not very good at recalling names, and suddenly I had lots to remember. The other problem I had was that many of the owners I met had given their dog a traditionally human name, which just added to my confusion. So I had not only to memorise Tara and Katie, Ellie and Sally, Nick and Harvey, and Connie and Sally, but I also had to remember which was the dog and which the person.