Once upon a brain cell, I learned everyone’s name. By the second week of training class, I not only knew all the owners, but all the members of the family including Grandma. I could even remember names they mentioned of friends in the neighborhood, the dog’s parents and their ‘playpals’. “Maggie plays all day with Sherman next door, and my other neighbor Sophie’s dog Bella. When we go to Kalamazoo in the summer to see Vic’s mom Lillie, all the dogs play in the river with Sam, their old hound. Maggie’s parents, Seka and Scout, live there on the farm and when we go back they all have a ball.” (For whatever reason) that is the sort of information that I naturally just remembered.

Well I think I have may have reached saturation overload. Perhaps my brain is suffering from the early onset of Alzheimer’s (gasp!), or maybe a person can only remember so much. I think (hope!) it is the latter of the two. Here is a typical daily scenario:

[Ring, ring, ring, ring!]

“Hello, Gooddogz!”

“Hi Nancy, I’m calling about my dog Jake (also easily insert, Maggie, Abbey, or Max). We took your class a little while ago.”

[O.K. – With just that to go on, how do I recall her or her dog? I have at least ten Jakes (or Maggies, Abbeys and Maxes) swimming in my head and my palms are starting to sweat. I dream about them at night and they’ve become one big, fuzzy, multi-colored Lab.]

I did the math and figured that I’m seeing close to 100 people and 40 new dogs a month and the roster changes every six weeks or so. On top of learning names, I must also note every quirk in the dog’s behavior, the close and extended members of the family and how they all interact with the dog. And then there’s the names of the owners’ neighbors, along with their pets or relatives and their dogs who may also come into the dog’s life.

I have been putting it off for years, but I finally gave in and purchased a box of name badges to give out in class. I’ve had to resign myself to always carrying my clipboard, complete with the current class roster and my notes (‘cheat sheets’) to help me distinguish who is who.

As for Jake’s owner, after playing twenty questions, I finally figured out just which Jake it was. But I didn’t let on that (initially) I couldn’t put a face to their names! But now my shameful secret is out!

If you are searching for names for your
pet (or baby!), try this great link.
Eventually your trainer will thank you and say something like, “What a GREAT name. I can remember that!” (Which is trainer-speak for, “Yes!!!! Not another Jake, Maggie, Abbey or Max!”) Please don’t misunderstand me…I named one of my own children after a grandparent using one of the above names. This is purely a selfish plea to the public to choose something memorable other than the most popular names. It’s just too taxing on my tired old brain!

One more thing about names - be very careful what you choose because it’s likely that your dog will grow into his/her name. Here is short list of dogs I still remember who did grow into their names. Some were clients more than ten years ago, but I still remember them like it was yesterday:

‘Damian’, ‘Beast’, ‘Ding Dong’, ‘Cujo’, ‘Mutton’, ‘Meathead’, ‘Fear’, ‘Felony’ and 'Yapper'.