Usually animals are happy with whatever names their humans use for them. They don’t have social references to the name—it’s a series of sounds their human makes when talking to them.

Occasionally, however, I’ll have an animal express an opinion.

A little dog had been rescued and was being fostered. The rescuer asked me to find out (among other things) if she liked her name. The dog did not. She said she did not like names ending with -eee, and she did not like the sound T.

It’s a little weird to discuss names with a dog, because they have different words and syllables than us. I started by asking her how many syllables she wanted in her name. One, she said. Then she pulled the name Bob out of my head. She liked that name. I explained that Bob was a boy’s name, and she was a girl dog, so this could not be her name.

She did not care that Bob was a boy’s name. She liked it. It sounded strong to her.

And she was a nervous rescue dog. She wanted a name that made her feel strong.

The moral of the story is—be aware that if you ask your animal friend what name they want, the answer might be outside of your comfort zone.

P.S. The humans are calling her Bob. And she is very happy.