The significance of names

What you name your dog says something about you, and it often says something about your dog as well. Names can become a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts, for better or worse. A gardener would be ill advised to name his dog Digger, for example. I know agility dogs named Fly, Flash and Dart. I know hunting dogs named Gunner, Hunter and Rueger. Diablo, Spike and Rowdy sound like dogs you might cross the street to avoid, while it’s hard to imagine Fifi, Queenie or Cupcake doing anything but lying about on fluffy pillows and eating liver flavored bon-bons.

The standards and etiquette surrounding the naming of pure bred dogs may seem quite peculiar to the uninitiated. It is common for breeders to have a kennel name which becomes part of the registered name of all the puppies they produce. It is also common for breeders to have a naming theme for each litter, whether it be a letter of the alphabet, or something more exotic such as race cars or cheese (yes, this is a true example). With the exception of our Lab, I have always taken the naming of our dogs quite seriously.

Our Lab Zephyr didn’t come with any of the above mentioned naming requirements, though we were familiar in a general sense with the concept of pedigreed names. Just enough so we couldn’t resist a bit of nose thumbing when determining her registered name. Our first choice was Princess Zephyr of 1000 Galaxies, but that wouldn’t fit on the registration paperwork, and in 1991 the AKC didn’t have an option which allowed you to shell out extra bucks for a longer name. George’s second choice was Princess Zephyr of Uranus, but I thought that took the nose thumbing a bit too far, so we compromised on Princess Zephyr of Neptune. Throughout her almost 15 years, Zephyr was a sweet and friendly dog who was quite gracious about putting up with all of the Tollers who arrived after her. She was pretty unassuming for a princess, but perhaps that is the norm on Neptune.

Gem’s registered name was a much more serious affair. Sans titles, it is Lonetree’s Gem Adamantine. Lonetree was Evelyn Williams kennel name and Gem was from her “G” themed litter. I added “adamantine” because I thought it went well with “gem”. Adamantine is commonly defined as something along the lines of a “hard, unyielding, diamond-like substance”. Also not to be missed is the relationship of adamantine to “adamant” - impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason. This has described Gem to a T on more than one occasion. Gem has lived up to her name; she has been both a brilliant and unyielding canine.