Naming Your Dog: What’s Its Face?

People used to name their dogs based on a physical or personality trait, like Spot, Digger, Rover, Fluffy or Blackie. “Oldies” that are still popular dog names are Lady, Buster, Patches and Pepper. Observe your new pet for a few days to see if its personality suggests a name for your dog.

Choose a name for your dog that it will easily recognize and not confuse with standard commands. For example, when you call for Joe, your dog might only hear “no”. If the name for your dog is too long or too difficult to pronounce, your dog will become confused or lose interest by the time you finish saying it and will not pay attention to your alert.

If you have already named your dog, select a second name as well.  If you haven’t named your dog, select two names. In the early stages of training, your dog should associate his name when being spoken to. Use the other dog’s name when you are talking about it. Otherwise, if the dog hears its name when not being spoken to, it might learn to ignore you when being called. All members of the family must develop good habits and use the right name for your dog at the right time. And, don’t use your dog’s name when you are angry or reprimanding.

Today, we think of our dogs as real members of the family so we now tend to give them human names. According to a database of more then 450,000 insured pets, the top 10 names for your dog are: Max, Molly, Buddy, Bella, Lucy, Maggie, Daisy, Jake, Bailey and Rocky.

 A runners-up list of GREAT DOG NAMES for naming your dog: