How to Pick Your Dog’s Name (with Suggestions)

How to Pick Your Dog’s Name

Dogs are the most popular pets; this holds true in Singapore as well as globally. They are loyal and give unconditional love. From the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, there has been an uptick in dog adoption and fostering as most people have settled on working from home and have chosen to have the wonderful company of dogs even as they work remotely. There are numerous benefits to having a dog as a pet, ranging from companionship, and safety, to health benefits such as stress relief, coping, and emotional support.

The next hurdle after having a dog is deciding on a name, not a very difficult task though having thousands of name options to choose from makes it a challenge. Settling for an appropriate name for your dog is one of the most important decisions for a new dog owner.

Naming your dog is very important as it serves to call for his attention. Your dog will be able to know that you are communicating to him and will be able to give you attention. Naming is also a way of identification, especially if you have more than one dog. Good dog names may enhance their responsiveness and spice up the relationship.

Before settling for any of the common pet names, it’s important to appreciate that there is a bit of science that goes into naming a dog.

Based on advice from experienced dog trainers and veterinarians, these are some of the tips on picking the best dog names. Both for female and male dogs.

A Name That Can’t Be Confused With Commands

Dr. Judy Morgan, a famous veterinarian advises that when naming a dog, the name should be kept short and blithe, devoid of sounding like common commands like “sit” or “no”. Consider the commands you use often on a dog and avoid names that would sound like those commands as the dog would easily be confused by this,

Unique and Stands Out, Ending With a Vowel

Choose a name that would identify your dog uniquely and that your pet names are not alike to avoid confusion. Having a pet named Scott and another named Spot, for example, may create a lot of confusion for the dog and even the other pet.

Dogs do not hear words but recognize sounds. They have an easier time hearing long vowels and hard consonants making them easier to distinguish from other sounds and, hence improving responsiveness. They hear names with two syllables and end with initial letters such as “SH, SCH, or K”

According to Ellis Nicole, a professional dog trainer, dogs distinguish frequency ranges more than humans do and it’s easier to get your dog’s attention when their name ends in a vowel

Give Short Names and Avoid Those With a Negative Connotation

It’s preferable that the name you give to your dog be one that will not attract constant backlash or create a negative outlook towards your dog. A name you will not be embarrassed to call out in the park or a public place. The name should be short, with one or two syllables which serve to quickly catch your dog’s attention.

Stick to The Given Name

Consider a name you will not want to easily change after a short while as this will have the dog really confused. When adopting a dog that already had a name, serve him treats as you reinforce new names to make your dog associate it with good things and quickly adapt to the new name. Like when you have a kid, we don’t usually change their names often.

Other Things You Could Consider

Put into consideration your dog’s personality and stature or even color as it’s a fun way to name dogs. i.e., considering snow or moon for white male dog’s names. Ellis, a dog trainer, for example, has her dog named after the motorcycle racer Rossi Valentino due to the dog’s personality running super-fast all day.

Whatever name you decide on, ensure you do not overuse it otherwise you may wear the dog out or they may dissociate from it.

50 Male Dog Names That You Can Consider

Boy dog names are inspired by different phenomena or themes and some rise and fall in popularity with time while others have maintained their popularity with most dog people in the race to have a unique male dog’s name.

Themes that influence dog names include people’s names like “Jack”, sports figures, and Food and drinks like “Oreo”.

Here are some of the sweet male dog names including a few that were the favorites of 2021:

Some of these names feature popular or unique male pet names as well and can be used on other pets such as cats.

50 Female Dog Names To Consider

While some names are shared between male and female dogs some are distinctively a preserve of either gender. The trending theme for female dog names is popular culture. Some of the names to consider include: