I was recently listening an interesting, thought provoking podcast called Namesake. And listening to it combined with a couple of encounters with others reminded me I had wanted to do a post about dogs and names.
I’ve posted about dogs and names before, but this is going to be less that. And more silly.
Most dogs I know have many “names.” Or things their humans call them. Or other humans call them, such as my brother in law enjoys making up names for dogs that drive their owners then crazy. Like how he calls my sister’s golden retriever Crumpet. Which she will have you know is not his name!
My own dogs have a long list of names. Some of which they actually respond to. Zora, Z, Z.Z, ZB, Noodle, Jingles, Weasel.
But my favorite is one of Tom’s, and is Tomato. And the sheer number of people who overhear me call him that who go, “Wait, is that his real name?” Makes me laugh every time. I call him Tomato because well his name is Tom. That’s really the reason. (ok and because he’s a garden thief). But because it makes me smile harder I usually say, “It’s cuz he’s soft and squishy.”
Because really, having fun with your dog’s name and peoples silliness in their responses, makes life a whole heck of a lot less stressful I think. lol

What are some of the silly names you’ve given your dog?
Gracie is often “Baby Girl” and Bodhi is often “Bodhi Boy” or “Bodster”.
Aw! So sweet! Love “Bodster” lol
Love this post. I counted Baxter’s nicknames once and came up with 17 (and then realized I’d missed a couple). You can read some of them in this post: https://www.thatmutt.com/2017/04/22/does-your-dog-have-a-nickname/.
17 is awesome! Lol. Sign of a well loved dog 😉 which we all know Baxter is!