What’s in a name?
Quite a bit, actually. I’ve had a few pets over the years, and choosing their names was a long process for me. My cats were named Persia (female) and then later I adopted Phoenix (male). Of course, I came up with one or two well-used nicknames for each of them, and often wound up calling them by this instead of their real name.
Names are very important to me. For years I’ve kept a list in my head of names that I liked, and eventually I started writing them down. When I thought I would be working with a service dog program, in a situation where the fully-trained service dog would already come named, I worried.
What if I didn’t like the name? What if I outright hated it? What if it didn’t have any meaning to me? What if I didn’t feel that the dog’s name suited his or her personality?
All of that is solved by working with a private service dog trainer. I will be able to pick the name myself in this situation! Of course, I already have a few in mind, depending on the gender of the dog.
My trainer recommends that I work with a golden retriever. (For awhile we’d debated a standard poodle, but I prefer the feeling of a golden’s coat over the rougher curls of a poodle.) Goldens range in color from almost white to a rich mahogany, which will also factor into my name choice.
Male golden, any color: Levi.
Female golden, white to light in color: Skylar.
Female golden, medium to dark in color: Hazel.
Purebred puppies are also given with a registered name, a short phrase that usually ties into their regular name or the breeding kennel that they came from. Here Wikipedia has a brief synopsis on registered names. I am still working on this, but the followings are considerations for the registered name options.
Levi: “Riveted on You”
Skylar: “Reach for the Sky” or “Sky’s the Limit”
Hazel: “A Little Nutty” (Yes, this is a reference to Nutella)
Sunshine on Four Feet 