I am sure you are excited. You may have ordered a new puppy and are waiting eagerly for the pickup day to arrive, or you may be rehoming a dog, so, how do I decide what to name my Dog?
I start pouring through the internet for names that tweak my interest, and, would you believe it, I do not recall over the years finding a name that I felt “fitted” what I had in mind.
What did I have in my mind? I usually had a reason for getting this new dog and wanted the name to fit the reason as to why I really wanted this dog to be a member of our household.
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I have had many dogs over the years, I have bred dogs, shown dogs to achieving their title of being an Australian Champion and my dogs achieving titles in Obedience, RallyO, Endurance and Agility. These journeys have been such fun and so rewarding for both myself and my dogs, especially as I am giving my much loved companions so much attention and company. They love that!
We will go back to the time when I was breeding dogs, my first breeding dog was named Angel. She was a Maltese and because I was so looking forward to having dogs back in my life, she brought with her a very loving, cheeky and optimistic outlook and every day was an adventure to her happy nature, so I could not help but be amazed at her antics and the name Angel suited her, especially as she was such a loyal companion also.
I owned quite a few Maltese dogs over the years, being a person who loved grooming dogs as I found this to be very therapeutic keeping their coats in top condition.
The puppies were raised in a family atmosphere making our home chaotic at times, but never dull and I loved choosing their pedigree names.
My thoughts over time turned to deciding that I would like to trial dogs in dog sports and realised that it was time to welcome another breed into our home and start in a new direction. So, how do I decide what to name my dog when it is an entirely different breed to what I was previously used to?
I chose to trial a Sheltie. His name was easy, as he was born on Anzac day and he was named Zac. Not very original you say? My husband being full of cheek, suggested I instead name him Ann! Now this would have been original, wouldn’t it? Zac was a very photogenic sable coloured Sheltie, a very handsome dog to look at.
My next trialling Sheltie was a tri-coloured lass who was a perfect companion who hardly ever put a foot wrong and was named Bronte. The funny part about her name was that her breeder named her Brontosaurus as she was one of two puppies born and she was the fattest and the hungriest, who made sure she was well fed from her mum. Bronte then became a fitting and cute name for her!
My next Sheltie was named Tillie! Why? I used to love dancing, found it to be fun, so it was fun to imagine dancing around with her, so I asked the breeder if her pedigree name could be “Dance Til Dawn”. This name was willingly accepted, hence her call name of Tillie.
Then followed another Sheltie named Denim. She had a very unusual coat colour as a very young baby which reminded me of a pale blue denim colour. Most of the time I called her Denny as it was easier to say.
The time came when I decided to again change breeds, I chose Australian Kelpies.
I had to wait so long for my first Kelpie puppy as the breeder had a long waiting list. The breeder advised that the litter’s theme name was to be the “Nail Polish” litter and I was given a list of names to read through. As I had waited so long for my name to move up the list so that at last I could now bring home my new Australian Kelpie puppy, one of the nail polish names offered was “Sheer Bliss”. This caught my eye as I thought, ‘Oh Yes, it will be such bliss to own this puppy’. I was fortunate enough that her pedigree name was ‘Sheer Bliss’, so Bliss she became and yes, what bliss she is, she is a delight to have for company, and yes, another perfect dog (like my Bronte), who is so willing to please you.
My next Kelpie’s litter theme name was the “Paint Litter”. There is a paint colour named Mojo, which meant to me that this puppy would have some go, and go she did, so Mojo suited her well.
My next Kelpie was named Twinkle, which was a name that dropped into my mind one day. I thought, yes, that suits her well, as she was born in December, the only puppy in the litter, and as we celebrate that a Star in born on Christmas day, her pedigree name of ‘Twinkle Little Star’ is just perfect. You could say this name was from divine inspiration, to me it was!
So, my friends, you can see that my decisions of how do I decide what to name my dog have all come from either the year times that they were born, the litter themes or even the reasons why I wanted this companion in the first place. Name searching did not come into it at all, all names were very personal and well suited to each om my precious dogs who have been a blessing to my life.
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Until next time…
With Love, Success and Inspiration,
Robin Oliver
