What’s in a name? Nothing really.

All the dogs at Kindness Ranch are named prior to their arrival. So, it’s the luck of the draw if their name fits their personality. But that doesn’t stop staff from getting attached to their moniker and projecting personality traits onto them based on it!

In the lab, dogs are identified by a number, but as soon as the painstaking task of transferring paperwork, health certificates and records commences, the dogs are assigned names. To make matters even more challenging, no dog may have a repeat name of a former Kindness Ranch dog. Each new dog needs a unique name so vet records can be maintained and not confused over the years. 

So how do we come up with these names? Well, choosing a theme for the names is a fun game that the staff embarks on just when they are informed that there will be new arrivals. Bridget, the Animal Care Manager, has gotten very creative in the past with themes. Some of them perhaps a bit too creative. For instance, take the Greek mythology group last summer: The x’s and z’s.  

Zephyr, Zander, Xanthe, Xavier, Xena… you get the picture. Male, female, who knew? And how on earth would anyone learn the difference? Thankfully, Bridget, our own goddess of an animal caretaker, kept her job after that fiasco and learned her lesson.

Themes have consisted of musicians and singers, cartoon characters, actors, spices, trees, plants, athletes, and now, the most recent group that arrived last week have been given names of famous classic artists.

This chubby lover is Jackson Pollock. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure Jackson Pollock was a thin, prickly, cranky guy. Nothing about this Jackson says Pollock.

So, when you adopt a dog from Kindness Ranch, don’t expect that they know or are attached to their given name. You are more than welcome to choose a name more fitting as you get to know your dog’s personality.