All about Dogs: Dog Breeds and Dog Names

From time immemorial names were chosen to describe the attributes of people or animals. In some cultures names are changed when a child reaches puberty. This is because a tiny baby is basically featureless and characterless. All that the parents can do is name it after a family member or a character trait they hope the child will have. At puberty a person has emerged with a definite character and personality. Of course this doesn’t always happen with animals, although it is not unknown. A tiny puppy starting off as “Titch” can easily emerge as “Tiger” or “Brutus” later! Quite apart from the dog breed, the name you give your dog says a lot about you and your own personality. If you have a sense of humour you might call your black pooch, “Snowy” or your ferocious Rottweiller, “Sweet Pea” or your timid, shivering Whippet, “Buster”, or your Chihuahua “Hercules”. A down-to-earth type of personality, you might call your dog, “Sam”, or “Joe” or “Bobby”. Most human boy and girl names can be adapted to animals too. A more dramatic, artistic or colourful person, you might choose names like “Vincent”, “Ponsonby”, “Ajax”, “Darth Vader”, “Conan”, “Twilight”, or “Montmorency”. Literature and the movies are full of famous dogs and ideas for dog names. A mischievous dog owner might name their dog after their best friend, or worst enemy, a politician, or a person involved in a delicious scandal. If you decide on dog adoption, the chances are that you will get a full grown, or partly grown dog. These usually have decided bodily characteristics and personalities of their own already. You simply pick out your dog’s dominant characteristics and find a nice, descriptive word for it that sounds right. These are often such names as “Freckles”, “Ginger”, “Rascal”, “Frisky”, “Droopy” or “Fluffy”. As with choosing names for human babies, many people find out the origins of names, and choose those with appealing meanings. Some of these are, “Fido” meaning “faithful”, “Felix”, meaning “happy”, “Sam” meaning “listener”, “Ava”, “like a bird”, and “Ethan” meaning “firm and strong”. If you choose a pure bred puppy you may find that different dog breeds tend to have their own style of naming. Most show dogs usually have long, sometimes quite spectacular, registered names. They usually include the kennel or breeder name followed by each puppy’s unique name. Frequently the dog has a more homely name as well, for every day use. Sometimes there are three or even four names, such as “Miss Margaret of Marhue” (called “Maggie” at home) It is very common for breeders to name their litters alphabetically, such as “Gregorex Abigail”, “Gregorex Amber”, “Gregorex Alex”, etc, for the first litter, and then for the second: “Gregorex Blue Peter”, “Gregorex Blarney”, and “Gregorex “Belinda”. The third litter would follow with “C” for each puppy’s unique name. Different breeds sometimes have characteristic names for registered dogs. It is typical for German Shepherd Dogs, Rottweilers, and Dobermans to have German names, such as “Fritz”, “Dieter”, or “Gisela”. Australian Cattle dogs frequently have Aboriginal, or other typically Australian names, like “Alkina” (the moon) “Ryshia” (love and peace) “Dainan” (kind), or “Sydney”. The purebred dogs on the British Isles originate from different areas, such as Scottish Terriers from Scotland, Irish Setters from Ireland, and various Spaniels from England. Often the owners, in recognition of their dogs’ origins give them names associated with those areas. Border Collies traditionally have one-syllable names, such as “Ross”, “Skye”, “Zest” or “Fly”. Every country in the world has its own breeds of dogs, sometimes with names from their own country or language, sometimes with names that just appeal to the owners.