Some of you know I have a canine roommate named Shakedown. That's her, above. I get complimented on her name pretty much every time I tell it to someone. It's always nice to hear, though I'm sure she's sick of me getting the credit. She's always claimed to have whispered it in my ear while I was sleeping.
I love naming things. Not just dogs. And though I'm biased, I think I have a knack for it. That said, I do know two better namers: Bob Mortimer and David Simon. Some of Mortimer's inventions include Top-heavy Ken, Slow Colin, Barbara Lighthouse, Mary Candles, and Mickey the Drink. Some of Simon's are Snot-boogie, Cheese, Bunk, Carver, and Stringer Bell.
Below is my list of quality dog names. (I also have one of horrible dog names, though I won't share it in case your dog's name is on it.)
Lincoln's List of Great Dog Names
Countdown
Bardo
Fair Play
Flowers
Finch
Flossy
Gillan (GILL anne)
Grenier (GRAIN-yr)
Ogden
Brightly
Go
Compy
Kapow!*
Pantone
Birch
Mighty* (small dogs only, please)
Ida (I-da, not E-da)
Evans
Lautrec (La-TREK)
Goffin
Mox
Catch
Snake Oil
Mon Gateau (aka Monga)
Fisty
Grapes*
Cohen
Tez
Lap-lap
Truce
Shimmy
Bricko / Bricka
Goulash
Softy
Congo
Poplar
Eleh (L.A.)
Campy
Mist
Fixer
Alef
Here's what I'm proposing: have a dog you need named? Choose one of the names above and, if you can afford it, every year of your dog's life, donate ten bucks of your local currency to a dog shelter. Preferably a no-kill shelter.
Don't know any shelters? I'll suggest Galgo del Sol in Spain. They do great work and focus mostly on Galgos and Podencos (the Spanish and Portuguese equivalent to the American Greyhound). They're also pretty great at naming dogs.
Am I kidding with this? Nope.
I sorta stole this idea from Bob Mortimer, who once proposed it with cat names and the annual donations went to him. Bob's a comedian. I'm not. I just like naming things and helping dogs.
*Not a dog name of my invention, so you should only donate $5 annually for these ones, as someone else did the heavy lifting. I met Grapes in Toronto, Mighty in West Hollywood, and Kapow! is an agility champ.
