Favorite Dog Pet Names – Pet names or Nick Names for Dogs

We recently asked our Petplace.com dog lovers if they have "pet names" for their dog. In our survey of 8,000 people, 92.1% had pet names for their dogs!

Several dog lovers email us their stories. These were some of our favorite stories!

Stinky Peterson

A skunk had sprayed my German Shepherd/Collie, Callie. After treatments and baths, she still had a "skunky" odor, so I began calling her "Stinky." My friend's three-year old daughter, Danielle, wanted to walk Callie one day. We were taking a walk around the beach … this little three-year old walking a dog bigger than her, when she started to sing "Stinky Peterson, Stinky Peterson." Callie is now 9-1/2 and Danielle is 11 (I think), but "Stinky Peterson" remains a nickname for Callie.

Linda Evans – Old Saybrook, CT

My Pet's Pet Names

I always call my pit bulls, Lola and Roxy, Noodle and Stinky. Lola wags so hard with happiness that she looks like a noodle. When I rescued Roxy, she was so smelly, so I still call her stinky, even though she has had many baths!

Laura

Giant Leap for a Little Dog

Our little Molly is an American Eskimo/Poodle mix. She is small — not even 10 pounds. She can jump on our bed, but before she makes the leap, she hops up and down, up and down several times. You can just see her head popping up over the edge of the bed as she prepares for that big jump. So now we call her Pop Tart.

Sharon – St. Louis, MO

My Chi/MinPin, Edward-Scissors Jaws

In Jan. '07, I adopted a 3-yr-old neutered male Chi/MinPin from Furbabies rescue in Blaine WA, who brought Eddie north from a "high kill" shelter in Kern County, Bakersfield CA.

When Eddie first came into our family, he had 'personal space' issues, particularly around shoulders and back. Eddie would get 'testy' and give 'warning' snarls and nips. We found out from a chiropractor, who does Veterinary Orthopedic Manipulation; Eddie has rotated vertebrae beginning from shoulder to neck areas, probably from blunt force trauma in his past. After about 6 mos. of monthly/bi-monthly adjustments, Eddie's shoulder and neck areas are not as 'inflamed'. Eddie shows more willingness to be touched in areas, especially massaging, and is more playful with my chi/terrier female and other dogs at play dates. Eddie's 'lap dog' personality is definitely coming out now that his pain is lessening and is being worked on.
However, his Edward Scissors-Jaws nickname has stuck, particularly when bearing his incisors.

Ms. Michaelene Manion

How Domingo Got His Name

I attend church regularly, and one morning I had to be there earlier than usual for a meeting. The first words I heard from a friend were not 'hello' or 'good morning,' they were, "Hey – do you want a dog?" My reply was an immediate NO. Didn't figure I had time for one.

It was Mother's Day 2002; the church had about 800 people attending that day. I told my friend to ask around, surely someone would want him. "Aw, just go look at him…it's a little puppy we picked up off the side of the road so he wouldn't get run over….He's cute."

One look was all it took. I was hooked. Since 'Domingo' means Sunday in Spanish, and it was Sunday, there you go. My other dog, Asia, was named by her first owner, a friend who was planning to work in the Philippines. Domingo & Asia are two of the silliest dogs I've eve known. But I sure do love my dogs!

Veronica Rosas – Ft. Worth, TX

My "Poopsy Woopsy" of many names

My dog Molly (short version of her name) had many many names. She has a full name. Its Molly (because I love that name) Cera (because that's the name that the shelter gave her) Hiccups (because every night she would get the hiccups) She has lots of pet names like, Poopsy Woopsy, Pupsicle, Pupcorn, Puperoni, and Pupsta. I also occasionally call her "Dishwasher Dog" because she likes to lick the dirty plates while I put them in the dishwasher.
Samantha Garvingston – New York

How "Play-Doe" Got Her Name

We adopted our little bundle of cuteness from our local SPCA when she was 9 weeks old. She is a cross between a black lab and a border collie we think! My boyfriend was the driver so I was the lucky one who got to hold our new pet in my arms for the ride home.

She was terribly frightened, understandably so…she had just been taken from her mommy and 8 other brothers and sisters. We hadn't even thought of any names we might like for a puppy ahead of time, so we had no clue what to name her.

The name given to her at the SPCA was Abbey, which I personally thought was adorable, but my boyfriend did not share my enthusiasm. So, as we're driving home she's snuggling up to me and just molding into me, no matter what way I put her. I told my boyfriend, "she's so floppy and constantly molding to me like Play-doh (the kids plasticine)" and he said, "let's call her that…I said what???, Play-doh." And it was so.

I thought he was kidding…but the name has now been hers for 2 years! I've decided to spell it Play-Doe…to make it a little more unique. Doe is spelled like a female deer because she is female and actually, now that she's older she moves gracefully like a doe.

So, as strange as her name may have seemed in the beginning, it suits her perfectly and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Jessica Lutz \~ Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

All Wiggles… All the time!

Cookie is a beautiful mutt that rescued us when we found her through Save-A Dog, in Framingham, MA. We picked her up on Christmas Eve from her foster family. They called her Suki. We renamed her Eve, but quickly changed it to Christmas Cookie. Shortened to Cookie. However, she has this infectious full body wiggle whenever she greets anyone! So, we often call her Wiggles or Wigs. She knows all the names and responds with the same happy gesture to all.

GGMRyan – North of Boston

My dog Musubi is such a character

Aloha! I live in Hawaii where there's lots of different races, we have here chineese, Japaneese, Samoan, Portugeese, Spanish, White's etc., etc. I had never heared of a musubi until I moved here over 20 years ago.

People eat musubi's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; as a matter of fact people here even eat musubi for pupus, which are appetizers and snacks.

It is rice that is wrapped up in seaweed and usually has a slice of spam or chicken or whatever you can get created with to add, even eggs have been added to some and the people here just love it, anyway when this particular puppy was born she looked just like one.

Maui is a combination of Dauchound, long hair chihuhua, and who knows what…I didn't have anything to do with the breeding, that was someone else, but as soon as we saw her, we fell in love with her.

Maui is very short to the ground, she's long, with all white hair except her face and ears are black, and it's kind of hard to see her brown eyes unless she looks to the side where you can see the whites. She always sleeps on her back with her little bitty legs stretched out, and she's extremely fat, she got that way after we got her fixed, and she likes to eat at night. But I look at her and she makes me smile because she looks just like a musubi roll.

Ana M.Dominguez – Kurtistown, Hawaii

Archie's Pet Name…"Ooooochie"

Our Black Mouth Cur, Archie, received his most-used pet name because when wanting something from us, he stands in front of us, rolls his mouth into a howling position & "oooooo's". He doesn't bark but continues to make this "ooo-ooo" plead until he is satisfied. Hence, we now call him "Ooochie".

Lisa A. Snapp

How My Dog Got Her Nickname

My dog, Madeleine, is a 7-year old Australian Shepard/English Setter mix. She was 10 weeks old when I brought her home. Madeleine actually started out with more than one "pet" or nickname, thanks to my husband. He first coined her "Ba-dump a-dump" because he said when she went down the stairs, she went ba-dump, ba-dump, etc. Well, the Ba-dump a-dump eventually turned into Dumpy for the sake of something shorter & it has stuck ever since.

She is now 6 years old & I think she responds to the nickname Dumpy better than her given name Madeleine. Her most recent "nickname" that we have been using in jest lately is Millicent, as my mother-in-law, for whatever reason, has been referring to her as Millicent instead of Madeleine. My husband thinks it's hilarious.

Carin Raynal – Camino, California

Zoe aka "Yodeler" and "Yodie"

When we first got our dog Zoe, she used to cry when we put her in her crate. It sounded like she was yodeling, so we started calling her "Yodeler". Then Yodeler got shortened to "Yodie".

Now she readily responds to not only her full name of Zoe, but also to "Yodeler" and "Yodie" without hesitation. In fact she almost responds quicker to her "pet names" than her given name!!

Holly Domagala Flower Mound, TX

My dog's nicknames

I'll start in the order in which dogs I have owned.
Jack: Yack, Pickles, Pete, Hog, Taco, some I don't recall.
Sasha: Babycakes, Babycakeset, Bunny, Bunnycakes, Bun Bun
Maxine: Reese Pieces, Sweetie, Sweetheart, Sweet Pea, and Lovely Lady Locks, Baby
Buddy: Butters, Mr. Pal, Buddy ol' Pal, But head, Buddy Butt Buns, Butter Butt
Dusty: Stinker Bug, James D Applewhite, Wonder Wuss, Dutter Butt, Duster. I have several others for my dogs just can't remember them all; these are all the main ones!

Jon

Dotty, Come!

I had my Border Collies up north in MI. for vacation with me. My newest addition Dotty was out racing along the fence line barking frantically! I called out to her, "Dotty come" (she didn't)!

Training for many years, dogs of various breeds, I broke the cardinal rule of every seasoned trainer and began repeating the command…Dotty, come, Dotty come and this devolved to, Dot come, Dot come to no avail! My friend, a witness to the entire fiasco, gave her the name, Dotcom and by Golly, it stuck!

Ginger Von Dinked Chicago IL

My husky, Skye was such a monster.

When we first adopted our husky, Skye, she had multiple issues, earning her the label of 'monster.' She was an escape artist and we would often find ourselves chasing her around the neighborhood frantically trying to catch her before she ran into traffic.

She destroyed the metal cage our friend had lent us by bending the bars in one of her manic attempts to escape the dreaded confinement. Skye had been a street dog for an unknown amount of time in her puppy years and still had the street mentality. It was not odd for us to find loaves of bread, bits of dog food or any other tasty treat stuffed between the couch cushions or under the bed pillows, stashed for her enjoyment at a later date.

She could never be sure that you were not going to take off and abandon her at any given time, so she had to be ready. I learned to do my grocery shopping in all one stop when she was in the car with me. If any items were left in the car alone with her, it was guaranteed she would eat at least half of the good stuff (bagels, ground beef, etc.) and stash the rest in my car somewhere for later.

Skye hated to feel trapped and we replaced our mini blinds several times because she felt the need to rip them down so she could see out the window when we was home alone. It was heartbreaking to leave her in the crate because she cried and paced the whole time. We developed an intricate pulley system to rig the front door against the bedroom and bathroom doors so that she could roam free in the house and not escape. This at least kept her out of the crate.

Skye had so many problems and so little interest in us when she first arrived and for the first several months of our lives together that we affectionately nicknamed her 'monster'.

It's been two years now and that nickname still surfaces on occasion when she has done something really bad. More often than not, she is now our 'baby girl' or sometimes 'lovebug' when she is feeling really close to us.

It took a lot of effort to get her to earn those nicknames, but it was worth it and we wouldn't trade our 'baby girl' for anything.

Shari Haines

A Special Name – Pita

When I purchased our second dog, an adorable Pug puppy, my husband wasn't ready for a puppy, and neither was our other dog, Bruce. Bruce was 9-years-old and pretty set in his ways. I didn't have a name picked out for the puppy and thought long and hard to come up with something "cute". After two days of my husband saying "this puppy is a pain in the ass" repeatedly, we decided to name her Pita (short for Pain In The Ass). Her AKC registered name is Judi's Sweeta Pita and we call her Sweeta or Tweeta or Sweet Pete or Stinky Feet, all names she responds to.

Judi Polanowski – West Chicago, IL

Do you have a favorite pet name for your dog? Email us and tell us your story. Email Us!