Pet Name's, Just wondering...

I have field bred English Springer Spaniels. I used to field trial them. I try to name them with single syllable names that start with a hard consonant because it's easier to say loudly than a soft consonant. (Cal vs. Sam for instance) Plus it's easier to differentiate between names when the dog is 40-50 yards away from the handler. We run dogs side by side (they could be within a few yards of each other or 50+ yards apart) and the command to send the dog for a retrieve once a bird is flushed and shot is their name.

BOTH dogs are supposed to sit (or hup) after the bird is flushed, if the 2nd dog doesn't see the flush, it's supposed to sit when the first shot is fired at the bird. You don't want a dog running down the course blowing out birds that were placed there (or wild birds for that matter). The dog on the course that did NOT flush the bird has to stay sitting and honor the other dog's retrieve unless the judge tells the handler to bring the dog in. If the 2nd dog breaks and moves from the sitting position without being told to, it's out of the trial. So, in training you play with the dog. saying different names to get it to ONLY go for the retrieve when it's name is called and not a name that is "close to" it's name.

For instance: Cal vs. Carl. I have a dog that was 2 years old when I got her from the breeder. Her name is Phee. I know, I know........ It's supposed to be short for phenomenal. She won't go for the retrieve if you call out Phil. She might flinch, but she won't take a step.

FWIW. esshup = English Springer Spaniel "hup" or ESS---hup

All of ours are rescue as well, minus Powder our chocolate female lab 16 mths, but with breeders out here, consider her rescue too. Gunher is a pittie, female, 6 years old, biggest baby around. Deflection is a little pocket bully, she was being breed consistently. Bout 9 years, her owner went to jail and left her in a yard to wonder around, got pregnant by a stray sheppard and we took her in. Owner got out and wanted her back, but we didn't give. Azimuth was a pittie/lab mix but started having seizures nonstop at year 1. Had to let him cross the rainbow bridge. Cannon was a pittie rescue at 6 weeks, but we had to let him cross as well couple years ago. He and Helo kept getting in fights for some reason, both fixed, grew up together from pups, but he grabbed our Gunher couple years ago by the snout and cut her good. That was his last shot. I loved that dog and cried like a baby. Helo was a mix, shep/mt dog and pit, was our daughters but now crossed the bridge, think he had a miswired head as well. And Apache is a Belgium Malinois, he's 4. Thanks for your input so far. We have fostered maybe 25 or so dogs last few years, my wife works with a couple rescue's and would have a hundred if she could. We do love our dogs though, we have 4 of ours now and two cats....SF Woody

We've only had one dog of our own during my lifetime. Siberian Husky named Cedar. Named after the tree. She was a runaway and her old owners didn't want her back. She ended up having kidney issues and had to be put down at 9 years old (I was 3 years old) No hunting dogs. We have had cats for a long time and the first one was Raven as he was solid black, like a raven. Second one was a calico we named Talbot and she was named after my brother who was a toddler at the time and his middle name was for Talbot County, Maryland. We adopted her (she was from a litter our neighbor's cat brought over to our place) in 2009 and last year while we were living out of the house she finally "disappeared" for good. We don't know what happened but she lived a good life of about 14 years. All of our other animals we no longer name unless they are staying here for breeding, and we don't name our chickens anymore. Most of our sheep are registered Gotlands and so must have a name. Our goats just get names so we can easily know who is who.

Sammy..

What’s for breakfast?

I had a pet termite named Clint.

Clint Eatswood was his full name.

We recently got my my stepdaughter 2 baby rabbits. One is missing a front foot. We call them Stump and Thump. But Thump has been getting called Hemorrhoid lately because he's a pain in the butt.

Our two weiner dogs are Madison and Molly. Madison is the town where we met.

Where to start? From as far back as I can remember. Suzie, Mitch, Sam, Sophie, Buck, Pete, Sophi (again), and Lilly. Cats are Momma cat, Tiger, and Alex.

Our cat Jack got his name because the wife finally got tired of waiting for my son, who got the cat, to name him. She gave him three choices or something. Since I end up doing all the work involved with the cat (surprise ) I told em I get to name the next beast. Something cool like Agamemnon, or Sargon. lol

We've named our sheep all kinds of things, usually with flower names, or something related to mythology or a favorite book. Lately bird species and astro related things, as well as just more general names have been what we usually choose.

I once named a set of twin ram lambs Merry and Pippin without hardly thinking.   The names just popped into my head.  Well, those two got older and started showing personalities a few days later.  I had no clue when I named them that the names would fit perfectly.  Think about Merry and Pippin in the Lord of the Rings?  Merry is a bit foolish, but a leader and not too afraid to do things.  Pippin is constantly doing or saying something silly or foolish and has to learn a few lessons before he becomes braver and starts to do his part in leading things.  And those two are constantly together.  

Well, the two sheep ended up doing the same thing.  Merry was always quieter and was usually the first out to pasture of the two, and hardly ever did anything foolish.  He was also the one that would be hanging right on my tail when I was in with them.  Pippin....  hardly ever followed me, usually at a decent distance, and he was usually not too far away from Merry.  You could usually find him wherever Merry was.  And he was the one who played games more often.  And he got in trouble far more often as well.  Those two also looked so much alike that the biggest difference was the amount of facial wool. Pippin had less, while Merry looked like a Hampshire (they were crossbreds) with all of his. Then they got weighed for the fair rate of gain.  There was less than 3/4 of a pound's difference between them.  Merry was slightly heavier.  They both had the highest rate of gain (weight change) for any market lambs at our fair that year. 

I have a goat named Rosie (Lord of the Rings; but you won't know unless I told you).  I did have an Aragorn and a Turgon one year (both were bottle lambs; Turgon had rings around his eyes and pinched ears making him look a little like an elf).  There was also an Arwen and Elwing (Arwen unfortunately got tangled in an electric fence that was hot and we weren't home and didn't find her until feeding time). Elwing means "star mist" in Tolkien's Elvish (yes the definition is in the Silmarillion), and this ewe ended up looking a lot like that too.  She was probably one of my favorites. 

Since our Gotlands are from Sweden we chose to focus on mythology with their names.  One of our first ewes was named Stella, so we named her lamb Orion's Boots.  Now all of his offspring, and some of their offspring, inherit the name Orion and we add on a barn name (registered animals will generally have two or more names; the last of which will usually be the barn name).  For instance, Orion's Nebula and Orion's Jewels are the two ewes we have at home right now. 


We don't really consider our farm animals pets, but they do generally get treated like pets.  Most of them are friendly and gentle.  If the sheep like you, they will come and rub their heads (hard!) on your legs.  Rosie the goat would rather "play" with you.  She's 6 years old and not apparently pregnant this year so has turned into a bit of a friendly, crazy goat.  She'd rather find the smallest hole to go through than swing wide around you.  And both of our rams, Boots and now Duke, were typical rams.  Boots was always ready to get anyone that walked into his pen, but Duke is a little less mean and would rather wait until you aren't looking. 


As for the chickens... Those especially aren't considered pets with the exception of a Silver Sebright hen whose just here as a curiosity, and a Dominique rooster named the Marquis de Lafayette (he came from Colonial Williamsburg) who is so tame and gentle he may not even have the ability to have his own chicks.  He's pretty easy to handle, and can literally be walked around the yard with some gentle direction.  We've had a few mean roosters... Those usually got sold, but two ended up being chicken soup.  Once we started having a lot of roosters a couple of thrown cans on their backs or a soaking with a bucket or two of thrown water usually worked. 


The other chickens we've named have been so many.  When I was younger, there was a Henry, Henny Penny, Rosy (she lived about 14 years.... old for a chicken and was the last remaining of our original flock).  A friend gave us a white layer named Yellow Legs.  I had a Caspian and a Lucy (into Narnia big time at that time).  Turin (had health issues), Pico, Henrietta, and many others whose names I have pretty much forgotten.  Yes, when I was little even the chickens were pets to me.