How did you get your pets/and name them

[slj84]

So I am curious as to how you all named your pets?  Did you just look at them and say this name just fits them or did it take time to name them?

For me I take forever to pick that perfect name for my pets. 

With my current five creatures I have Gracie, Sadie, Holly, Chloe and Jasper

Gracie is our oldest girl in the pack.  I was 17 when my sister had moved out with her dog, and I begged my parents to get another dog.  We had our other dog Buttons (RIP) at the time, but she was not a social playful dog at all.  So I was sneaky and pulled up pictures if puppies on the Internet and awwwwed my mom into it.  My dad was the harder sell.  After lots of begging we went to pick out a puppy.  Gracie went through probably 15 names before we finally settled on a name that suited her.  Mom liked dawn and I loved the name Sadie but neither of us liked each other's name suggestion.  So we finally agreed on Gracie Dawn. 

Then I moved out for college.  I survived maybe 6 months before I couldn't take not having a dog.  Since I was still dependent on my parents I felt I needed their permission first.  After several weeks of back and forth conversation we agreed I could get one.  I had a apartment that allowed small dogs.  I ended up going to look at a litter of jack russell puppies, the family rescued the mom to only find out she was pregnant.  There I found my Sadie.  The minute I picked her up as a pup it was a instant click, but I also really liked her one sister.  Apparently so did my mom, as she went back two days later and got her.

Instantly I looked at her and said this is my Sadie.  It was a name I loved since we got Gracie and it just fit her.  Her full name is Mercedes Louise, but it's shortened to Sadie Lou.

With Holly we really loves the name Josie for her; but my dad vetoed it as my grandmas name is Josephine and he said it was her nickname when she was younger.  Finally after a few weeks of online looking we settled on Holly.

After Buttons passed away (she chewed Buttons as a puppy hence her name), I was still living at home but decided that I would really like to get a other dog as I was starting to gather up money to move out on my own and felt getting Sadie a companion before hand would be better then waiting until after.   Sadie is very very particular about other dogs, and will only take to puppies.  So as much as I wanted a shelter pup I decided I needed a pup that I knew would be laid back, and docile.

Chloe took me forever to name!  I wasn't actually to thrilled with her name but I had to choose something.  It fits her okay but if I could go back in time I would rename her Paisley as that name would fit her near perfect.

Then last year we had a women bring in a litter of kittens.  Her husband owned a auto repair shop and they had somehow climbed into a box of car parts and each kitten and car part had to be carefully removed not to smoosh them.   She had already found a home for one, and was keeping the other one which left the two brothers.  As she was telling us how she had someone come see them and the 1.5# kittens hissed and spit at the person and they decided not to take the feisty little things, I picked up this little black and white fluff ball.  He looked me dead in the eyes and you could tell he was terrified.  Of course as I'm coddling this kitten she goes do you know anyone who may want him... I told her I was leaving for vacation for a week and if she still had him when I got back I would take him.  I had no idea how I was going to introduce a tiny kitten to 4 dogs who have never lived with a cat before, but I could not get him out of my mind.  It took me 6 months to be confident in their response together before I felt they could be loose when I'm home.  I still don't leave them loose together when I'm not home.  His name was going to be Tucker, but it didn't fit.  Then he was Dash, which I still really like that name but again it just didn't fit.  My mom suggested Jasper and that's who he became.

Now I'm debating going to the shelter and getting Jasper a kitty friend and he is home alone a lot since the dogs goto grandmas house while I work.

[NovelNerd]

I think my pets kinda picked their own names. I took time to get to know them before naming them. I also try to give most of my fur babies people names.

[Rainfeather]

Aaaw I want your pack! I only have 1 creature

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I allways wanted a cat, so when I went to live on myself the first thing I did is buy a cat!
After research Abbesinian, Somali and Balinese and siamese cats turned out to suite me. They are very involved with their owner, and very present in the house.

Why not from the animal shelter? Why spend 400 euro's on a cat when so many cats don't have a home?
I have been a rat breeder for years. I know how important it is that there are good breaders who keep breading for healthy, social cats. (The average age of pet rats went from 7 to 2 due to bad breeding).
I think it is worth to pay money for a pet that is carefully breeded to prevent illnesses.

I found this Somali at a breeder. She already was bought previouslt, but her owner returned her because she couldn't get along with other cats.
Turned out, just like a chihuahua she carried the kittin in her purse to everywhere. Cats are not dogs. When she visited someone with this kitten, who already had a cat, they didn't get along. *duh*
She also put clothes on the cat, lol.

For a year she didn't have a name. I could'nt choose.
Then she got her name 'Farty McSmellybottom'. She farts a lot, and she cleans het butt very poorly (she has long butthair). The name just suddenly came into my head.

She only listens to 'poesje'(Pussy/Kitty) though.
.
She is the best decission I have ever made. And she gets along great with other cats. (but those cats better not get in her home!). She used to have boyfriend before I moved. He often came to pick her up. I noticed because she was purring like crazy infront of the front door. When I opened the door she ran to him cuddling and purring like crazy lol! And they would just hang for a while. <3

[melodys_angel]

I try to have a name for them the first day, especially if they do not yet have one.

its super important to establish that connection right away, especially with dogs.  If you leave them nameless its harder to train them and would just feel weird.

The name 'comet' came to me when I met him and his brothers when going to pick him up.  His coat coloration was unique and reminded me of that.

I think my brother stuck with coco for his dog before he saw him, knowing it would be a black pug.

[Icecrystalline]

Gu my tabby cat came from a rescue centre. She's a beauty and is named after chocolate deserts. I knew the minute I laid eyes on her she should be called Gu.

[Tulips]

Awww what sweet stories.

My dog Moose is my first ever dog (Mini Foxie in my icon), I got him when I was 16. A highschool friend knew how desperately I wanted a dog and his family dog had recently had puppies, so he let me take one home for free. I had to sneak around preparing for weeks because my parents flat out refused to let me get a dog and had been telling me no since I was a kid... but when I brought him home and said that either he stayed or I went with him my Mum walked straight back out the door (Dad had flown out to Europe for business that morning).

It took a lot of convincing and there were many hurdles but he's 5 now and the entire family loves him. My mum actually asked how long I had been seeing him before I brought him home, because he seemed to be so attached to me straight away, and I had to tell her I'd only spent maybe 10 minutes picking between him and his brother, having only seen a short video of him beforehand. He's helped me through so much, and is kind of a therapy dog for my brother too.

I named him after the dog that played Eddie in the tv show Fraiser, and he actually does sit and creepily stare at people just like him! I picked his name out pretty easily, even before I knew he existed I had settled on Moose months before and it fit him so well (even if now and then I get funny looks because he's so small, and nobody knows who Moose/Eddie is).
I think he actually learnt his name in the first day, I kept repeating it and he's so smart. He never had accidents in the house and was so eager for a treat he would do anything, he was top of his Puppy Preschool class! He's a little monster now of course!

One of the conditions of him staying was me being completely financially responsible for him, I got a job for him and have built a career I love out of it.
Unfortunately, he's not a healthy dog. He has more genetic issues than is fair, but he was backyard bred so it's not surprising. Mini Foxies are hardy though, nothing can stop them!
He has Dip Dysplasia, only on his right, for which he is taking several medications to prevent arthritis.
Both knees suffered from Luxating Patella, which took two very expensive reconstructive surgeries to fix, but you wouldn't even guess it with how much he runs around.
And just in the last few weeks he had some eye problems... I found out on Thursday that he has Primary Lens Luxation and had gone blind in his right eye from nerve damage without even the Vets noticing. He will likely need the eye removed. We're doing everything we can to save as much vision in his left eye as we can but there is a chance he will go completely blind, best case he's just vision impaired.

So yeah, that's the story of how I came to love this little 'money black hole, I call Moose. I now know why my parents told me no since I was 5 and I do not recommend anyone take a beggers-can't-be-choosers dog like I did, but I don't regret it for a second.   

[Beldarna]

Currently I have three cats.

Oldest one is the daughter of a rescue my dad brought home 14 years ago. As a kitten she was a very prudent and cute and clean little lady. If you put her in front of a mirror she could stare at herself for a long time. Her paws were so white and cute and cuddly and paw in swedish = tass so i named her Miss Taz. As she grew older she took a liking to climbing in our curtains and Miss Taz became Taz which became Tarzan as swinging in curtains was a favorite thing. I still call her tass sometimes.

Our next cat was Ninja. Me and my boyfriend worked odd hours and Tarzan was alone for long periods of time so we decided she needed a companion. A coworker to John had a friend who had gotten a litter and showed us a picture and we fell in love. They wanted two hundred SEK for him and drove him home to us. We had considered many names before he arrived but within five minutes we both agreed on Ninja. He was feisty, unafraid and could sneak like no other. He was also very small and no matter what his breeder told us, I am convinced he was 6-8 weeks old rather than 12. It shows in his behavior still, three years later. He is very smart and clever and gets easily bored. I often say that if he had been human, he would be a scientist at Nasa, part of Mensa and spent his free time on crazy adventures like climbing the Mount Everest.

Tarzan liked the company of another cat. She just didn't like to play with Ninja and we soon realised we needed another cat to keep Ninja company as he was a handfull. My moms boyfriend had a rescue cat that had gotten preggers before he could neuter her and in this litter was a cute little orange boy they decided to give to us. When Simba came in through the door he was very afraid at first, but after a few minutes he walked around like the cub in the Lion King, looking like "..and I'm going to ruuule it all. Heh heh" and thus he was named. He and Ninja soon became best pals and Tarzan is happy to have cat companions she doesn't have to interract with.

[MilkyTaroMochi]

My dad's co-worker had some cats at her home and a stray kitten had kept hanging out so she asked my dad if he wanted a cat. He knew I always wanted a cat (and he grew up raising cats), so he said yes. Heh, I was the only one that knew about getting a kitten until we brought him home. My mom was NOT happy about it (but she quickly grew to like and love him, even if she still won't admit it today lol).

I named my cat Freckles after one of the 101 Dalmatian puppies (he looks more like "Patch/Patches", but I thought Freckles sounded more "cat", lol)

[STLGusty]

What cute stories!

I have two cats...one is Buddy, one is Dirtball.

We went to PetSmart and they were hosting some kittens from Partners 4 Pets (and yes, we were actively looking to adopt a kitten).  There were three cute kittens in a cage together - two boys, one girl.  The girl had HUGE eyes - I instantly referred to her as "Buggy" (like big ol' bug eyes).  Then there was a mainecoon that looks so awkward with his big ears and big eyes and loooong tail.  I started to call him "Bobby" (cause he reminded me of a little bobcat with a tail).  Then there was another one that didn't have anything really "special" about him.  He had a brownish tint to him (tabby) at the time, so I just called him "Dirtball" since I didn't really want to adopt that one.

After taking FOREVER to decide which one we wanted, we got the mainecoon.  I also decided I didn't want to call him Bobby.  I couldn't settle on a name, so we just kind of wound up with calling him Buddy since it was kind of close to Bobby.  It stuck.

Well, shortly thereafter (like a day), we figured we needed another kitten to keep Buddy company.  We went back to the store to get Buggy (the female cat), but both her and Dirtball were gone :'(  The store called the Partners 4 Pets people, and we talked to the lady that was fostering those kittens.  She was like, "Oh yeah!  We still have the one you're talking about.  That kitten's a little under the weather, so want me to keep it for a week and then we can meet up next Saturday?"  We agreed happily.

Well, on that Friday she let us know the kitten still wasn't 100% better, but we said that was fine.  We headed to PetSmart the next day..and there was the lady...and in her hands...was....DIRTBALL.  Ahhhh!  I had wanted Buggy, not Dirtball!  I couldn't bare to just walk away from this kitten, though, so we adopted him.  Best decision EVER.  He's like my shadow now

[nessy_86]

This might take me forever! I have 5 cats, 1 dog, 7 rats, and a bunch of fish, snails, and 2 red claw crabs (fortunately they don't have names)

We'll start with my dog Paco. He just turned 10 in March. He was a drop off at my parents house in Minnesota. Someone dropped him off in February on the road and he happened to wander into my yard as we were outside. He is a Chihuahua/Boston Terrier mix and is the funniest, fattest little dog. When he arrived he had painted red nails (we thought his toes were bleeding!) and was a skinny little thing. My mom wanted him to have a very dignified name like Winston. But my dad and I thought he needed to have some sort of Spanish/Mexican name due to his breed. Somehow we all agreed on Paco the taco When he got to us it was obvious someone was very mean to him and he had been hit any times in his young life (he was only about a year when he showed up). The poor little guy had separation anxiety so bad the first night (we locked him in the bathroom) that he tore up the tile trying to get under the door.  He's much better now (thank goodness) and moved out with me to Maryland to get out of the Minnesota winters.
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Spencer was our first cat- he just turned 6 in April- and we adopted him from Last Chance Animal Rescue. My husband, James, decided since we couldn't have a dog (we lived on the top floor of our apartment building and dogs weren't allowed) that he wanted a cat to keep him company while I went back to school in January (back to Minnesota). So we went to Petsmart (they have adoptable cats there) and Spencer won over James' heart. James asked to take him out of the cage and Spencer hugged James and licked his nose. And that was the end of that. When we adopted Spencer he already had his name and it stuck.
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Next on the roster is Pipperton. Pip came with me once I officially moved out of Minnesota. She was born in the summer at my parents house while I was out here in Maryland with my husband. I went back home for my last semester of school and met this tiny little red ball of fluff. Poor Pip caught a pretty bad cold when she was really young and her mom stopped taking care of her. So I took her into the house and she stole my heart. I fed and took care of her in the house. She would finish eating and hop up on the chair with me and curl up in a ball on my shoulder and go to sleep. I named her Pipperton (Pip) since she was so small. Now she loves my husband a lot more than she likes me and she's a lot bigger.
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Next are the sisters- Sweetheart and Stripe. Three summers ago a momma cat had 4 kittens under my shed out back. We live trapped the cats  since my neighbors were threatening to animal control and put them in our shed so we could tame them and get them adopted. Well the momma broke through the window and the four little ones followed. We lived trapped the kittens again (no luck with momma) and put them back in the shed. We named all 4 of them while we were attempting to tame them. They all had generic names except one: Blackie, Sweetheart, Stripe, and Phillip Fry. We were able to tame Blackie and Phillip Fry enough to sign them over to Last Chance Animal Rescue (a no kill shelter) to be adopted out. Sweetheart and Stripe were another story-- they liked no one but me. Still to this day they only like me. I couldn't imagine giving them up knowing they would be scared of everything and everyone. So now they live in the basement work room with all kinds of cat trees and toys and still only like me. They'll come to James if he has their can of nightly cat food, but that's it. They had their generic names for so long that there wasn't any point in changing them once they moved in. (I didn't have a pic on my camera of them!)

And last cat- Matilda Marie. Matilda was adopted from the Humane Society when we actually were bringing in one of our rats to be cremated. She was this tiny three month old little ball of fur that I carried around for over an hour with her all tucked into the crook of my arm purring. I fell in love as soon as I picked her up and my hubby could tell I couldn't leave without her. So she came home with us much to the dismay of our other critters. I'm not sure how I came up with her name but as soon as I said it it stuck (they had her named Kako-- so not the right name!). Now she is spoiled rotten ball of fluff that is my constant companion that isn't a really big fan of my husband.
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I'm not sure how these ratties all got their names (we have had 14 rats total- 7 now, and 7 have passed-- Remy, Rufus, Gus Gus, Mr. Mosby, Bella, Bianca, and Zoey). Now we have Ben (Michael Jackson song about a rat ), Willard (because my mom's friend would always ask her to ask me how Willard was), Freddie and Eddie (I just looked at them and those names came out and stuck), and Josey, Fiona, and Madeline (I think we took to the computer and started looking up names and these ones stuck).

So there is my herd in a nutshell. They drive me crazy at times, but I couldn't imagine not having them all.

[Chrissytree]

One of our Budgies picked his own name. A neighbour rang up one night and said she'd found a budgie in her cat's mouth and knew we had some. So she brought him to us and we put him in a spare cage. He wasn't injured and settled right in. He was called Lucky

[shimmlight]

When I had my hamsters I named them after something I was into at the time. The first one I named Gemma because I had a crush on Gemma Arterton when we bought her. The second I called Lester after the main character from American Beauty

[kaoskat]

Their names just are. I mean some came from places but only because they were theirs. We have:

Onigiri
Shada
Nori
Sandy
Willa
Camille
Jaymee
Anastasia
Luna
Clockwork
Drakonai
Lady Galadriel
Shayde
Eden
Amelie
Alternity
Kyo
Domino
Suzi
Kappa
SnapTrap
Gojyo
Poseidon
Cariñosita (my sponsored little girl named her/him and I have no clue what it means......)

[Corona]

I wanted to train a therapy dog so I could get experience as a dog trainer and help kids with disabilities. So I went to my local humane society with my dog trainer/mentor to pick the perfectly tempered dog for the job. I was warned it could take weeks or even months to find the perfect dog. But I saw a smiling little corgi/dachshund mix with a butt covered in paint he acquired as a stray and immediately latched onto him. After a few tests, he proved to be the exact match of what I wanted on the first try.

I love naming my animals after pop culture characters. Kind of a fangirl that way. A dog I was looking at but catastrophically failed a temperament test I was going to name Torgo (Manos: The Hands of Fate a la Mystery Science Theatre 3000.)

The mix I ended up getting originally was going to be named Mulder (from the X-Files) but for some reason I decided upon Gatsby. I love history, I love the 1920s and 30s, and The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books (and movie! Robert Redford and Sam Waterston? Win.) It also worked in that he's in training to be a reading therapy dog, and Jay Gatsby is one of the most iconic book characters in America.

Here he is. We did get the paint off him, but my sister still calls him Paint Dog. He's well on his way to earning his Canine Good Citizen tag and eventually his therapy dog jacket.
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[mlp4me]

We've had our dog for 6 years, got him from a local rescue group. We were told that we could rename him, but decided not to. He raced under the name GLB's Charge. His foster family already had a Charge so naturally Sarge was a close re-name. It suits him, I don't think I could call him anything else... (besides Lazy)
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