Furocious
A few years ago I met a woman at a dog park. We engaged in conversation and before I knew it, she introduced me to her dog, Debbie. Debbie?
There is a certain level of etiquette, even among those wielding pooper-scoopers. So, of course, I asked: “Is that short for Deborah? “
“No,” she replied, “just Debbie.”
So in this first bite of Furocious, we’re digging deep on dog names.
Take the Borges family. When they lived in Bowie, they named their lab-chow mix, not after the rock star, but after their home town – ‘Bowie.’ Now, in Annapolis, getting in tune with the whole Sailing Capital of the U.S.-thing, the dog answers to ‘Buoy.’ Fortunately, the dog doesn’t seem to notice much difference.
When rescuing a Scottish terrier mix from the pound, Columbia resident Linda Cahow referred back to her favorite movie, Gone with the Wind for inspiration. Bonnie Blue Butler, the young daughter of Scarlett and Rhett, provided not only familiar frame of reference, but ‘Bonnie’ in Scottish means ‘pretty.’
Some name their pets after spices, like Pepper (a Yorkie I know) and Ginger (a cocker spaniel). Then there’s my sister-in-law (whose name is Ginger) who named the stray mutt our nephew brought home ‘Bernie,’ after Bernie Mac. Why? Turns out the dog’s eyes bulge out like those of the late comedian.
Need help finding a name for your new best friend? Search engines like GOOGLE will direct you to several sites with thousands of names, just beware that many of them are so advertising-laden their layout is somewhat confusing and takes time to load. For brief tips on naming your dog (one and two syllable names work best for dog cognition) as well as name categories like male, female and favorites, go to http://www.dognameswoof.com/ Most No. 1 male and female dog names: Max and Molly.
Barclay, my West Highland Terrier, is named after a bank in England inspired by visits to a great-uncle in London. Had I known he’d be less “Masterpiece Theater” and more “Parrot Head” I might have named him ‘Fins.’ Woof!
Write to Furocious and tell us what you call your canine companion and why.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/16/10 at 11:36 AM
