Pet Names

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Doggers,

 

I hadn’t thought to consider doggy names but

the “herding” discussion has exhausted itself so I’d like to introduce a similar, related topic(s?): What is our breed properly called? How do we/should we name our dogs?

 

This discussion may offend some. I have no particular person or dog in mind, nor do I attribute personal wickedness to individual dog fanciers, pet owners or those who think my opinions are so much gas. Enjoy your Border Collie. We’re lucky to have them.

 

Degrees of social status in the rural south, where I live, are both subtle and powerful. The same man, from lowest status to highest might be named Skinny, Bobby, Bob, Robert, Mr. Robert Smith, Mr. (Colonel, Doctor) Smith and at the top of the status heap: Mr. Robert. (Viz Mr. Sam (Rayburn), Marse Robert (E.Lee).

 

Although there are numerous exceptions, Grandmother may always be “MeMaw” or “Nana” to family members and close friends, men (and rarely women) may be known by a nickname all their life – the usual naming progression is informal through more formal to “titled” (Mr. Sam).

 

George Bush nicknamed his subordinates: “Fart Blossom” and”Brownie”. Nobody called the President “ Georgie Porgie”.

 

When assigning a name (nickname) control has shifted from the named to the namer. Slave Owners named slaves “Caesar” or “Agamemnon” to underscore their powerlessness. They called adult males “Boy”.

 

In rural Britain and at British sheepdog trials, Border Collies are “Collies” a twelfth century coinage meaning “Coal-colored”.

 

When Victoria Regina took up “Collies” in the 1870’s, many British regions had their own Collie subbreed (like British Sheep breeds) with slightly different conformation and I’d guess though I cannot prove, slightly different working styles. The still-working survivors of these regional gene pools are today called Kelpies, McNabs, Bearded Collies (yes, there are a few). Smithfield Collies (Tasmania), Wickelow Copllies (Ireland) Border Collies and English Shepherds. Australian Shepherd origins are disputed but I’d guess that if you go back far enough, they were a regional British Collie. The yellow collie Victoria crossed with Borzois to create the modern show collie was, except for coat color, morphologically similar to modern Border Collies. A taxidermied specimen of the preshow Collie can be seen at the Rothchild Natural History Museum at Tring.

 

Most other regional Collies were absorbed into the Border Collie gene pool or went extinct.

 

In the early 1920’s, the ISDS hosted a dog trial for Collies in Hyde Park. When the KC objected that the scruffy, incorrect working dogs weren’t “Collies”, J.A.Reid, the ISDS secretary said, “Fine. We’ll call our breed Border Collies.”

 

From 1991-1994, Whilst our breed was being stalked by the AKC, we told them we’d drop our opposition if they’d call their breed: “American Shepherd” or something like that. They refused so their breed became the “Barbie Collie”.

 

Eileen wrote:

 

“What I think "Golden" or "Border" expresses is familiarity, as most nicknames do -- "I know these dogs, I understand these dogs, I'm at ease with these dogs, I am so close to these dogs that it's natural and appropriate for me to call them by a diminutive." And to the extent that the term "Borders" bothers me I think it may be for exactly that reason. The people who tend to use it IMO are making an unjustified claim -- almost always they do NOT know and understand the border collie to an extent that would justify this familiarity.”

 

Diminuitives, like nicknames, are often signs of affection. In the case of “Borders” and “BC’s”, I think the short form is an exercise of power. The short form is dismissive of Border Collie history, work and the generations of mostly unknown shepherds who created an unmatched stockdog. The usage trivializes the dog: “Why I’m so busy and so important, I don’t have time to pronounce/write out the full name, so I’ll abbreviate it.”

 

Pet names:

 

In the early 1880’s one main reason dog showers agreed to form an all-breed dog registry (the AKC) was that people were cheating. “My Spot won the XYZ dog show.”

“But my “Spot” won that show.”

From the outset the AKC didn’t allow duplicate names. Once “Spot” had been used “Out Damned Spot” was inevitable. But as names lengthened and grew more complex “Out damned Blue Spot” and “Inkstained’s out damned Spot”, call names were used by real owners for real dogs: In everyday parlance, “Spot” was still “Spot”.

This odd circle mated with Dog Fancy hubris. After all, fanciers were “refining” crude simulcrums of the real thing. They were creating dog breeds. They were, if not gods, Darwin’s chosen instruments. What better way to show their power than clever, punning names?

So their “Border” or “BC” is “Out Damn Spot’s Lady Macbeth, Ch. HCH, Canadian XXX, etc. etc. “ Call name: Spot.

But people know perfectly well which Spot is “Spot” and if ID is unclear they can modify it with “Robin French’s Spot” or “Robin French’s first Spot, the one that came third at Wilsons”.

Some will argue that we all give our dogs nicknames – and that’s true enough. My “June” is AKA “Juney-pooney”, and “Miss Poon”. But her offical name, the name on her papers and enshrined in the studbooks is “June”.

Private nicknames are not the official name. And when that official name is some complex manifestation of human cleverness Viz. “Inkstained Out Damn Spot’s Lady MacBeth”, we have diminished the dog.

The ISDS bans non-tradtional names. While the ABCA does not, weird, ego-burnishing names mark the namer..

What’s wrong with “Border Collie”? What’s wrong with “Spot”?

 

Donald McCaig

[Sue R]

Nothing's wrong with Border Collie (or working sheepdog or cattledog) and nothing's wrong with Spot ABC xxxxxx or ISDS xxxxxx. Dignity and respect come with brevity and honesty. Ego and silliness come with being convoluted about naming a dog, in my opinion, especially having a string of letters before and/or after that rival War and Peace in length.

 

We are very fortunate that you have recently been sharing your musings with us here. Thanks, Donald! Or is that Mr. McCaig? Or just Mr. Donald?

[Tea]

I named my Sweep after his great grandfather a good hill dog. I liked that name alot because its easy to say. And I think hoped that name would pull some help for my young dog and me from his ancestor now working the flocks of heaven.

 

(Because of my work.)

 

So then my Kids saw him laying down wagging his tail across the floor, and his tail is as tightly curled at rest as a huskys.

 

And they dubbed him

 

Sweep the Horrible Broom.

 

Or just Sweep the Broom

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------

 

My Mothers nicname as a child was -Hibby

 

I had Uncles nick named- Puddy- Slim- Mule-

 

 

All from Arkansas

------------------------------------------------

 

 

My nickname is/was Tea and Sister- My old Pop only called me sister. (When I was born he wanted to name me Terpchicorie.)

 

And I have names from native america that get even weirder- although I did luck out a bit

 

(I was given a formal Blackfeet name as a gift. And It was almost going to be Black Buffalo cow or something like that. Although it sounds better in Blackfeet. There are weirder ones, my favorite is.....Chips.......as in Buffalo Chips---- Thank GOD thats a mans name. Another is Carcass- )

 

But ended up with Marckqui Aki-

 

Hum- maybe I won't tell you what it means........

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

I don't get all the leetters at the end of the akc names.

[JohnLloydJones]

What's wrong with "Border Collie"? What's wrong with "Spot"?

 

I grew up in Wales and most of the time we simply referred to them as sheepdogs. A while back, I was browsing in Flikr and found a photo of a working dog titled "Sew, ci defaid mam" (trans: Sue, mum's sheepdog), so things haven't changed much. The term Border Collie was just a fancy name you used when you had a need to explain the breed to an outsider. For us, there were only two types of dogs; sheepdogs and "other breeds". The dog's themselves had short, simple call names that you could use out in the field, and if that didn't suffice when referring to them, all you needed to do was tack on a farm/place name or surname to disambiguate which "Spot" you were referring to.

[Liz P]

Sheepdog is fine by me, but the confusion in the USA comes about when you say sheepdog to the general public. Their first thoughts are Shetland Sheepdog or Old English Sheepdog. I can't tell you how many times people have told me that their Sheltie used to herd everything by nipping at heels, bikes, cars, etc. It is a disconnect between the rural, food producing community and the rest of the USA. The general public has inaccurate, pre conceived notions about farming and seem to refuse to admit that these notions are based on myth rather than fact.

 

Donald, what does the ISDS mean by non traditional names? When I named one of my dogs Freya, after a Norse goddess, I looked at the ISDS listing of names out of curiosity and did find several dogs (3 or 4) had been named Freya in the past. Freya is certainly a rare and unusual name, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is non traditional any more than the names Zeus and Hera would be non traditional in Greece.

 

My dogs' names have been...

 

Duncan, named after a Border Collie owned by a relative. He lived up to his namesake and saved my life.

 

Flyboy, named for my grandfather (WWII pilot). Also lived up to his name and was always calm and brave under pressure.

 

Freya, Norse goddess. She thinks she should be worshipped.

 

Luna, named because there were 2 lunar eclipses the year she was born. She did prove to be a little insane.

 

Loki, Norse god.

 

Frankie, named by my Mom for St. Francis. A very loyal dog.

 

Sage, because he struck me as an old soul as a pup.

 

Juniper, because it fit and I like the name. I couldn't decide on a name at first, but Juniper was on my short list. The second day I had her home she suddenly leaped through the air and caught a bug, so I started calling her June Bug as a nickname. Since I was already calling her June Bug I decided that Juniper was meant to be her name. She answers to June Bug, June and Juniper.

[JohnLloydJones]

Sheepdog is fine by me, but the confusion in the USA comes about when you say sheepdog to the general public.

That's pretty much what I meant when I wrote

Border Collie was just a fancy name you used when you had a need to explain the breed to an outsider

But saying Border Collie to "the general public" now will be understood to mean those poofed up barbies you at the Westminster show, so I don't know which is worse.

[ShoresDog]

Thanks for evoking some fond old memories of living in a small town in the South, Donald. People did have colorful nicknames! A recent college grad, I lived in a small mother-in-law cottage behind the big house in Beaufort NC, and next door to us lived a very well-respected and influential ex-mayor, Piggy Potter. Mr. Potter's handsome son was known as Little Piggy. I had a hard time imagining telling my friends back in Michigan that I had my eyes on a guy named Little Piggy!

 

And I couldn't agree more about big silly KC dog names!

[Guest echoica]

...Admittedly, I have little respect for breeding dogs for conformity with a KC standard or dogs showing for conformation and I am VERY pro-rescue, so I have been known to poke fun at this world, in my own way. My MUTT I rescued from the SPCA, Casey, is affectionately known among my friends and myself as "Pooh Puppy Pooxie Puppy Business". So that's his 'show name' as if he were a pedigree dog *chuckles*

[geonni banner]

"Sugarfoot" is a family name for dogs - that is, my mother had a dog named Sugarfoot when she was a kid, and I've had two dogs with the name now. Interestingly, I didn't know that my mom had had a dog named Sugarfoot until after I had already named my first Sugarfoot. In west Texas, Sugarfoot was a common name for horses with one or more white sock.

 

After I had gotten my present Sugarfoot, and figured out that she was (is) most likely a purebred Border Collie, I thought of taking her to sheep. This because I discovered the BC Boards and became interested in stock work. At that time I gave Sugarfoot the nickname Bell and began to get her used to responding to it. It seemed a more likely name for use in training with sheep - not so cumbersome.

 

Now I've begun to think that perhaps taking my dog to sheep isn't such a brilliant idea. I'm poor and I have no car, so paying for lessons at any really useful interval with a good stockdog trainer, and getting to those lessons may simply be out of my reach financially and logistically. I begin to feel that I would simply be annoying a bunch of perfectly nice sheep half a dozen times a year.... After all, the likelihood of my ever having a place that would accommodate any sheep is slim indeed, as is the likelihood of my being able to trial.

 

But I still call Sugarfoot Bell sometimes. She seems to like it.

[Root Beer]

I find names to be an extremely interesting subject. I think that the name says a great deal about the giver, and his or her attitude toward the dog.

 

I don't personally have a problem with people giving the fancy registered names. When that is part of the dog culture of which the giver of the name is a part, I think it most appropriate. I always find it interesting to hear what those names are, and the reasons behind them. There usually is something of a story connected with those names.

 

The one thing that irks me is when the name is inherently negative toward the dog. I met someone once who had given the registered name, "No no, bad dog". Most people seemed to think it was cute (or did they?), but I just don't like that sort of thing. Personal preference. To me that is when the dog is diminished.

 

But if someone has named the dog something like "Catch the Wave" and they call the dog "Catcher", I don't have any personal problem with that. Sometimes those names are quite creative. It doesn't diminish the dog in my eyes any more than a person having several first names (and I know some people who do!) diminishes that person.

 

I think there is something to be said for choosing a name that reflects the dog's heritage, but I would not say that choosing not to do so is a bad thing. There may be something else that the owner wants the dog's name to express. As long as that's not some negative quality in the dog, I don't have a problem with it.

[JohnLloydJones]

I met someone once who had given the registered name, "No no, bad dog".

I suspect my foster, Rhys bach*, thought his name was something like that (probably less suitable to post here). He never gave any sign of recognizing his original name, so I gave him a new one.

 

Dogs don't care what you call them, as long as you are reasonably consistent. It's their owners who, in my eyes (or ears) are diminished by silly pretentious name.

 

Note *: Yes, his name is Rhys, but I do refer to him with the diminutive of affection.

[Eileen Stein]

Donald, what does the ISDS mean by non traditional names?

 

It's not really accurate to say that the ISDS bans non-traditional names. The ISDS rules say that "Names assigned to pups must be short (to be capable of use whilst the dog is working), appropriate to the sex and not repeated in that litter." If you look at the list of names of ISDS registered dogs, you will see that they don't interpret this terribly strictly -- under the "A"s alone you will find names such as Amethyst, Alladin, Arabella and Arabesque. But these flowery names, while acceptable for registration, are obviously uncommon. The 100 most popular ISDS names, which you will find at the same location, are all familiar one- or two-syllable names, which reflect the norms of the traditional border collie culture.

[Sue R]

I think there is something to be said for choosing a name that reflects the dog's heritage, but I would not say that choosing not to do so is a bad thing. There may be something else that the owner wants the dog's name to express. As long as that's not some negative quality in the dog, I don't have a problem with it.

I find it extremely amusing to see all the plays on the word "ewe" in show-bred Border Collies whose ancestry hasn't done (or been selected for) a lick of stockwork in generations, and who will be possibly taken for a "herding instinct test" on some dead dog-broke sheep, and "proof" that the instinct is hard-wired in and to add more letters to their registered moniker.

 

Of course, many of those same people would probably find a great deal of what I do to be laughable.

[Ooky]

Sheepdog is fine by me, but the confusion in the USA comes about when you say sheepdog to the general public.

 

This may be true, but I still like using this term to people who ask me what he is. I've noticed in the bay area (probably elsewhere, but here status seems like an especially big deal to some people), that calling him a border collie leads people to think I'm an agility junkie or else wanted the "world's smartest, most intense dog" because I am stuck up somehow - that recent bud lite commercial kind of sums up that owner stereotype pretty nicely.

 

I LOVE telling children he is a sheepdog. Most of them do not know what a border collie is but sheepdog makes sense to them, even if they haven't been around farms (thanks to Babe, I guess). Some of them ask, "does he know any sheep?" And when I tell him yes they love it.

 

I have no problems with the term border collie and do use it (and you all have trained me well - I absolutely CRINGE when I hear "border") - but with the general public I just feel like they sometimes get the wrong idea about us. Sheepdog is so simple yet so perfect, and I don't mind if it leaves them a bit confused

 

As for individual names, I've always loved T.S. Elliot's naming of cats rules, and all of my cats have had a long name (e.g., Mephistopheles) but were called by a sensible, everyday nickname (e.g. Mesto). But I didn't take that tactic with the one dog so far I've been able to name - he is just Odin (or "Odie" to many trainers, lol). And I named him before I knew about ISDS convention. But I have to say, no offense to anyone but fancy dog names (like Mr. Donald says "Out Damned Spot AKC XXX XXX XX") have always seemed kind of silly/strange to me.

[Sue R]

I do have to laugh about sheepdog because I often use that word when people ask what my dogs are - but we have no sheep and I have to say, "But they work cattle"! But if I said, "Cattledog", then they'd think ACD.

[stockdogranch]

^^While I *do* have sheep, most of my dogs would glare at me if I referred to them as sheepdogs. When asked, I say they are "border collies, the kind that are working cowdogs,"

A

[NorthfieldNick]

When people ask what kind of dogs I have, I say "Border Collies, working stockdogs." Most people find out I have sheep first, then they ask if I have a Border Collie, then if the dog works, etc. I told someone I was going to Finals last year in Klamath, and they referred to it as a dog show. In an uncharacteristic manner, I held my temper, and nicely explained why that moniker bothered me.

 

Nick came with his name. It fits him (don't know why, it just does), and I left it. It's on his papers. Nick is not very common in the ISDS, which surprised me. If I had my choice, I would have named Nick "Mud" because he's mud brown. Or just Brown, which is what everyone here calls him.

 

Hoot got his name because of this odd connection I have with owls. I love them, but I also see them far more often than any normal person. There are no dogs named Hoot in the ISDS list.

 

Aside from my current two horses, I've never owned a registered horse. They all had names like Ruby, Duchess, etc. My friends & I used to have great fun making up "show names" for our horses at different shows. Ruby was "Ruby Tuesday" on the jumper circuit, but at fun shows, she had a list of not-so-board-friendly monikers... My friend who had a pony mare names, unoriginally, Philly (yes, it was spelled that way) showed her as "Motown Philly".

 

I once showed against a horse who was later entered in a low-level class with a little kid mounted. The horse's name was ShezSoEzShezSleez (She's So Easy She's Sleazy). The "Shez/Hez/Sheza/Heza" thing is big in the QH world. That name was the worst I'd ever heard! Especially for a youth horse!

[Ooky]

^^Yes, that is true. I've been "informed" by several people that border collies can't work cattle, and I often think of Anna, Sue, Nicole, and others here!

 

Odin was supposedly specifically bred to work goats, but goatdog sounds ominous somehow - like a chimera type thing

[ShoresDog]

While I *do* have sheep, most of my dogs would glare at me if I referred to them as sheepdogs.

Hee hee that reminds me of a certain Highland Games Sheepdog Trial and a certain quite young dog, who did daily chores with about 50 sheep, yet who gave you a look of the very most extreme puzzlement when you sent her up the hill. "Mom, I don't see any cows there?? But, Mom, there don't seem to be any cows up that hill??"

 

And Juno and Calli's dad is on a ranch with 300 goats. I don't know about Calli, but maybe that explains something about Juno!!

[Sue R]

^^Yes, that is true. I've been "informed" by several people that border collies can't work cattle, and I often think of Anna, Sue, Nicole, and others here!

My Celt is definitely not a strong dog but he does his best. Give him cattle and sheep both in his range of view, and his eyes will be riveted on the cattle, not the sheep. For him, cattle are the "real thing". And he always tries his best even though he's not the best-bred dog for working cattle.

 

Dan, on the other hand, will have plenty of gumption - he got his first kick the other day, a glancing head blow, and his response was, "Is that all you have? Bring it on! I'm going to make you regret that!"

[juliepoudrier]

What I find funny is that in the working border collie world, even if you think you've come up with an original name it's likely someone has used it before you or that someone will come along behind you and use it, so I think you'd have to really get out there to come up with a name that's not repeated (Nancy and Dave Sharp come to mind ).

 

J.

[bcnewe2]

I named Dew, Dewel really planning on calling her Dewel but it was shortened the first day and we've never really called her Dewel. I named her after my great uncle who had the first border collies I'd ever seen. He lived on a farm but I really don't remember the dogs working, i just remember loving the 2 he owned.

 

I thought I was pretty original but really wasn't trying to be. Now I know of another Dew. Spelt the same way too. Being sorta strange when you say "that'll do Dew" makes it a bit crazy, hence the thought I wouldn't find other dews out there. But go figure.

And BTW Dew knows exactly what I'm saying when I say do and Dew. one's her name the other is a verb she has no problem telling the difference when I'm talking.

I once thought of naming a dog Noah but thought I'd better not do that considering it was so close to NO but now I think a dog with that name would, like Dew, know the difference.

 

I like original names or names that mean something to me personally but I also love the idea of short 1-2 syllable names. It's hard to come up with both.

 

Now I'm starting to lean with naming a pup after some past great dog in their pedigree hoping some of the greatness will rub off!

 

Mostly I try and let the dog tell me it's own name but sometimes it take to long so they get a different name.

I had named Sam (the LGD) something else, I can't remember what I named him but everytime I'd look at him he'd scream at me his name was Sam. So Sam it became!

 

As far as my dogs being called Border collies, I don't seem to care what other people call them as long as it doesn't have anything with ACK attached. I might get a bit miffed if someone called them barbies but then again, I'd wonder if they thought my dogs were pretty! Unless we were on the field, then they'd be fighting words

I'm one that isn't bothered by the evil word "herding" so goes to figure I'm not really worried about what else you'd call my dogs too.

For some reason Borders sorta sounds funny. I think of books instead of border collies. I will write BC's as it's just easier to type but would never call them B C's. That would sound funny too.

 

I certainly enjoy reading Mr. McCaigs writings on anything he might choose to write about. And respect all he's done for our dogs heritage.

[ejano]

On my grandfather's farm, the Border Collies were the traditional black and white or sometimes tri -- they were "cow dogs" because they fetched the dairy cows. If he'd had sheep, they would likely have been sheep dogs. They had solid, pretty boring names, often recycled-- Ring (at least two in my memory) and Shep or Sheppie.

 

There was a Slippers - though I'm not sure he ever did any respectable work. My mother and her sisters named him and made a perfect fool of him . There are pictures of him sitting on a horse's back and he had a role in the my mother's senior play as Sr Walter Raleigh's dog. When the curtain rose, he sat up on his haunches and graciously accepted the applause as his due. My mother was the maid whose main job was entering and leaving Sir Walter's study with a curtsy and a bob-- she always said the dog upstaged her.

 

My very first dog (at about five years old) was a collie mix I named Pete or Petie -- a girl, but she was the color of peat moss. which I'd seen a lot of, growing up in the greenhouse. I also had a Tippie, another mix -- who did indeed have a white tip on his tail, but as a tiny pup, he'd try to jump up and then tip over.

 

Woofer had another name to start, but my son was just beginning to talk, and dogs "Woof", don't they? Lucky, a BC mix, came from the pound as did the terrier Willie, who was named Boxcar Willie, because he'd been a runaway tramp.

 

Our recent Border Collies were always rescues and came to us with their names mostly intact. Ladybug was just Lady, though and I would have liked to have renamed Scotty but he was pretty attached to that name. I called him Scotty Bear because his previous owners (who loved him very much), also taught him their last name which was similar to Bear and he knew that sound pretty well. Plus, he growled a great deal when he came to us. Obviously neither Ladybug nor Scotty Bear ever went out in a field to work at anything beyond catching a mouse.

 

With these new pups, Robin's name came naturally -- he was born on the day I spotted the first Robin of spring and he is a beautiful male red dog, though on hearing the name most think he's a girl. I had at first named him Robin Goodfellow (the imp in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's dream) but then decided on Robin Come Bobbin' after I saw his ears flapping in the breeze as he ran. He is registered as Robin and around our house is mostly known as "Trouble" or "That Robin".

 

Brodie is Gaelic for "Brother" -- he was the one left over in the litter. Someone suggested we call him Target because of the big black circle on his butt but it seemed like it was making fun of him. My husband calls him "Bro Man" and I call him "Bro Bro" and we both call him Bro. When he starts on sheep this spring, he'll answer to Bro...a nice, sharp one syllable respectable working dog name.

 

It's an impossibility now that the pups are neutered, but I wouldn't be tempted to name one dog after the other, AKA style -- Robin's "Tweet" for example any more than I would have labeled my son "Jr", forever the underling. Each dog has its own personality and is deserving of its own name. I did register my filly as "Leola's Skyrocket" after her mother , who was out of the "Leo" line of Quarter Horses but she very quickly became just "Skye" - the breeder called her Skyrocket after the way she jumped in the air as a tiny filly. I never showed her, so the rest was just forgotten.

 

Come to think of it, our names have always been a bit fanciful. My son's Manx cat was Henrietta White Whiskers --we each picked part of her name . I chose Henrietta because she was the ancient Scottish queen whom Lewis Carroll used to model the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland "Off with their heads!" was that cat's motto when it came to people. Our current kitty, Tiger Lily is a tiger striped cat, but she was also found in the greenhouse under a Tiger Lily plant, abandoned by her feral mother together with her pretty gray coated brother. I named him Phineas Fogg...no one in my family really got the connection to "the fog comes on little cat feet" poem but he did become quite the traveler...headed down the east coast to North Carolina and back several times with my great-niece who calls what has become a very big, very fat, cat Ki-Ki. I threw a couple of other stray kittens in my son's apt one day when he wasn't looking (Why people think that just because you have a farm, you want cats, I'll never know). I named them Ninja Kitty, who really does disappear into shadows if he doesn't want to be seen and Mr Fluffles (orange fluffball) who spends a great deal of time perched atop doors. He's a very large cat too, so it's a bit disconcerting to start to walk through a door then see his tail hanging down from the upper door ledge. My son, as you might imagine, has other, less flattering, names for them

 

 

When someone asks me, "Are those Border Collies?" I'm just happy they've got the breed right, especially in Robin's case -- he's a red tri.

 

Liz

[MaggieDog]

I gave all three of my pups (herding mixes) "fancy" names because it's fun - there's no implication of lack of respect in our case. Maggie's registered name (USDAA for agility as are the other two) is goofy because I made it up when I was 15, but the other two have long names based on songs I liked and their personalities. I don't see how that can be considered offensive honestly.

[IPSY]

Boxcar Willie !! LOL I love it !

Your going to use "Bro" for a call name when working Brodie , that made me think about what I would call Yogi ......"YO" is going to sound hilarious !! LOL....

 

Tippy , tipped ! Thats a really cute one...