Dear UrbanAnimal,

I've reserved a golden retriever puppy from a breeder and I'll be picking her up in January. My family always had dogs but this is the first puppy that I can call my own. I'm so excited, I'm ready to burst. I'm wondering if your readers can help me decide on a name for puppy.

Katherine, Toronto

Dear Katherine,

I can't help but share your enthusiasm, Katherine, and I'm sure my readers will enjoy the challenge of helping to name the new pup.

There are so many things to consider but my first thought leans toward choosing a name that will be easy for your pup to hear. You might want to pick a moniker consisting of one or two syllables that include at least one hard consonant (a "T," for example) as advised by the late, famous British dog trainer, Barbara Woodhouse, who felt that dogs react faster to short, snappy words.

Woodhouse's memorable word, "Walkies" includes the hard "K" and her advice makes sense. Imagine yourself standing on a windswept hill, calling your dog who is playing with other dogs or is shoulder-deep in the trunk of an old tree. Calling "Trixie" would carry more weight than "Annabanana."

So your first consideration might be how easily your pup will hear her name then think about how well it differs from other names in your household.

Confusion will reign supreme if your puppy's name is Maxine and your cat's name is Max. Mary, a good friend of mine, just adopted a beautiful five-year-old dog named Mary.

Instant problem.

Mary-the-human didn't want to change the dog's name to something entirely different so she chose Kerry. When it comes to pre-named dogs, it's best to keep the name intact or, in Mary's case, change it just enough to make it distinguishable.

Next comes the fun part: choose a name that reflects something special.

With my own pets, I tend to choose from the world of music and ballet such as Wolfgang (Mozart), Ella (Fitzgerald) and Margot (Fonteyn).

You might choose a famous historical figure or place, object, sports figure, food or even a secret word spelled backward. Have fun and choose the name that makes you feel good. I found a great website at http://www.dog-names.us, which allows you to find a name according to interests and hobbies and also supplies history and trivia for each.

You might want to wait, though, until puppy is in your home. Appearance, personality and behaviour have caused more than one new owner to give their pups handles such as Sasquatch, Taz, Rascal and Shadow.

I've noticed that men, women and children often differ in opinion when it comes to choosing a name. You can be fairly certain that Spike was named by a man, for instance, while Gracie was probably chosen by a woman. There are exceptions, of course, and names such as Lucky, Buddy, Jake and Max seem to cross gender lines. With kids, it's often a name taken from a beloved cartoon, book or Disney movie. When The Lion King was a favourite, a lot of dogs were named Simba. And is there a baby boomer among us who doesn't get misty-eyed when they hear the names Lassie and Rin Tin Tin?

Geography, history and mystery can play a role, too. I've known Kap from Kapuskasing, more than a dozen Westies named Hamish and, last but not least, Elvis, the dog who kept coming back to the animal shelter.

OK, readers! Now it's up to you. Can you help choose a name for Katherine's new pup? Please let me know and I'll include the short list in my next column.

 

E-mail jacque-newman@rogers.com with a question, comment or suggestion.