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I currently have a 5 yr old lab I adopted at 8 months old, so he came "pre-named".

We're getting another lab pup in June, and my wife and 3 daughters all have various ideas on dog names, most originating from Disney movies of some sort. Ugh.

I'm trying to think up good hunting dog names, as I'm the one who will be training and working with the dog, and I'll be actually saying the dog's name the most, lol. The dog won't be hunting waterfowl, as I'm just not a duck hunter, but will be doing some upland hunting.

If it wasn't used so often, I'd be all about Jaeger, but it seems like there are a lot of hunting dogs named Jaeger, Remington, Winchester, Ruger, etc.

So...looking for unique/interesting hunting dog name ideas. It'll be a male yellow lab, from a dark yellow mother and fox red male. It will be either the typical yellow lab color or darker, possibly fully fox red (think Irish Setter color, if you've never seen one). Just sorta depends on how the genes played out.

Thanks!

Names are always fun.

We named our Cocker "Brindamour", but we call her Brindie.


The spastic Fox/JRT rescue hyena/dingo was called Maddox, but now he just gets called "Mad dog"

I was always in favor of 2 syllable names, with a hard seperation in the middle, because I found dogs with those types of names always responded better to their name at a distance (we did a lot of coon hunting when I was younger)

That said, I always wanted one named "Boo Yah"

Rigby

A couple of my favs are: Scout and Ranger for a bird dog.

In naming a hunting dog, the important thing is choosing a name that is easy to scream and does not sound like some other command. 5 letters max, 3 is better and end in a hard consonant k, t, g, etc. Zak, Jet, Jack are all good. Sue will work in a pinch. Snookems or Puddles doesn't work.

I like German words for names!

Good Point.

I hunted grouse one day up here with a guy who had a runoff English Setter named "Lovely Lady" (his wife named her)

She bolted as soon as the leash was slipped and we spent the next two hours "lost dog hunting" instead of grouse hunting.

I will never forget that morning going through the woods with that guy plaintively wailing "Lovely Lady" , etc , etc endlessly.

I would get the puppy and let it name itself. It just takes a bit of time, but the right name will appear that matches his personality.

You also need to think of what kind of personality you most desire in him because you will subconsciously mold him into that where possible. A name should represent both who the dog is, and what you want him to be.

For example, no one expects the same behavior out of a dog named "President" compared to one named "Joker." Your training will mold him into one or the other. You will subconsciously reward/punish him into his name. So it is best if his name matches his inborn strengths that you enjoy.

My current dog is named "Sprite." She isn't named "Steady." If she were, I would not enjoy her antics as much. As it is, her name fits her personality, it's a good name for calling her, and I'm always happy when she's acting out her inborn personality.

Buck, Yardly, Sam, Max, Bo, Mack, Ruger, Kimber, Chester, Browning, Tracker, Smokey, Hike, Magnum, Killer, SOB, Shreader, Jake, Gunner, Ranger, Dakota, Moe, Jack, Rambo, Goose, Echo, Tango, Bravo, Sierra, Vic, Zeus, Appolo, Nightrider, Kitt, Kipp, Karl, Marx, Stalin, Sam, River, Elam, Nicholas, Miguel, Kane, Corky, Biscuits, Elvis

magnum
champ
duke
captain

I prefer 1 syllable names for my hunting dogs.
I'm quicker with them and they seems to respond quicker, too.

Nitro, Purdey, Westley, buckshot, gunner, Sig, trigger... or maybe name him after your favorite drink or beer.

Guinness, Foster, Pabst, Busch, Dragon, Hacker, Moose.

Tequila, Gimlet, Joker, Mojito, Blinker.

Or maybe after your favorite ammo: Olin, Jamison, Cor-bon, Norma, Lapua, Nosler, Ramshot, Varget.

Maybe after your favorite cartridge: Lott, Ackley, Swift, Ribgy.

How about your favorite author: Boddington, Massad, Cooper, Elmer, Skeeter, O'conner, Capstick.

Or maybe a favorite movie character. We used to breed and raise border collies. If the the client spoke for a pup before we had to send the registration papers in, we would let them name the dog. If not, they all received names from characters in John Wayne movies: Duke, Chance, Maggie, Quirt, Jake.

Maybe your favorite movie character. Josey, Cisco, Hopalong, Quigly, Hannibal.

Or maybe your favorite city: Nash(ville), Vegas, Berlin, Dublin, Cork, Reno.

With a little imagination you could name your dog with an "original" that most people wont have already used.

Good luck !

I prefer one syllable and absolutely no more than 2. That whole yelling/screaming the name discussion above. We ended up with Hank.

Never could understand the yelling/screaming at bird dogs. seems to be popular though.....

I am used to working with various breeds of herding dogs, I don't know if the work they are bred for makes the difference or not ( they are basically meant to "hunt" pretty close and in conjunction with your efforts and not 'freelance') but I've worked with some big, 'hard' dogs, and they didn't require me to raise my voice.

Also FWIW, studies indicate the thing in a given word or command that a dog pays the most attention to, is the first syllable. Kinda like the old Gary Larson Cartoon. I could call my dog Rommel by saying " Herr Field Marshall Erwin Rommel" and all he would basically hear is "Rom"...

The old "blah blah blah GINGER, blah blah blah blah, GINGER cartoon?

Interesting you had the dog take on that one.

I had a girlfriend named Ginger. That's why I remember it.

Thats the cartoon!


Was Ginger like that too?

guage

The e-collar ends the screaming.

finnly or finn

Have to agree with that.

My 5 yr old lab is e-collar trained. If he doesn't come when I call the first two times, he will be hoofin' it by the third time I call.

And honestly, I haven't had to issue a "correction" to him since I can't remember when. Warnings are enough 99% of the time.