What's in a Name?

We got a puppy last December and my family had long discussions about what to name her.

In fact, there was more consideration given to her name than I gave to my daughter's name.

My top choices - Turnip and Petunia  - were voted down.  We ended up calling her Sophie, or rather, my husband ended up naming her Sophie. It turns out he's not alone in liking the name.

According to Mydogmagazine.com the most consistently popular dog names are:

Bella

Max

Bailey

Lucy

Molly

Buddy

Maggie

Daisy

Chloe

Sophie

One thing to notice about the above names is that they are all one or two syllables.

That's what you want when you are training - a name that gets your dog's attention.

Pumpernickel may be a fine dog name but when you want to get your dog's attention, it's quite the mouthful.

That leads me to another thing to consider when you are picking a name.  What will it really end up being? Just like with humans, we may want full names to be used but in real life names turn into nicknames.  So if you're naming your dog Pumpernickel, consider whether you'll be happy with Pump.

Finally, think about how comfortable you will be using your dog's name in public. You might think Dr. Schnitzelface is cute but consider whether you'll feel okay with using it in public for the rest of her life. (I mean, I would, but I was going to name my dog Turnip.)

Whatever you end up with, you can't make a mistake.  You can get comfortable with anything over time, even Sophie.

AnimalSense Canine Training & Behavior offers group dog training classes at Glenview Animal Hospital and private in-home training throughout the North Shore.