Coming up with a name is always part of the fun of being a pet parent. Naming your dog is the first step towards creating a bond with your new pet. Your dog’s name should reflect its unique personality.

Where to start

A good place I like to start when choosing a name is deciding if its going to be a human name or not. Some people are “human name” people, some not. If you don’t like the idea of naming your dog Mike or Penny, begin to think about how the dog came into your life, the actual place you acquired the dog, or funny actions the puppy does that touches your heart and begins the imprint phase. Don’t limit yourself to nouns. Adjectives and adverbs will make your name more unique.

When a dog doesn’t like their name

Admittedly, I’ve chosen names for two dogs in my life in which they did not like them. The first one was Ivy, my working Belgian Malinois that asked a local animal communicator to please change her name to either Rachel or Popcorn (I really tried to rename her Popcorn but it doesn’t roll off the tongue). The second one was Ox, but for the first month I was calling him T-Bone. I thought maybe I got a dog of lower intelligence seeing as in that month he had never responded to his name. But when I started calling him Ox he understood it right away. The takeaway here is that if the dog isn’t responding right away you may need to reconsider their name. Also if you have a puppy that has a high activity level, you may want to consider a name with an Eee sound at the end, as this sound is the most likely to capture your dog’s attention.

The most commonly seen names today

As groomers we see it all, including every name of every dog that comes our way. Here’s a list of the most commonly seen dog names amongst local grooming shops:

• Bella
• Daisy
• Chanel
• Gucci
• Charlie
• Teddy

The secret groomer’s compilation of unique never-before seen names!

Ok so maybe these aren’t so secret anymore. Here’s a list of fun names we’ve thought of throughout the years that could match the perfect dog. Give us a shout out if you end up using any of these fun dog names!

• Soda
• Friday
• Fuse
• Scooter
• Flex
• Mochi
• Pinot
• Nerd
• Loofah
• Neo
• Ninja
• Breeze
• Special
• Shrimp
• Capo
• Davy
• Vegas
• Taco
• Masa
• Crush
• Grimace
• Cakey
• Homie
• Nilla
• Fox
• Ruff