Guest Blog from Olga Horvat: Picking the Right Name for Your New Pet

As founder of Four Legged Life.com, I am happy to share insights from guest bloggers. With the new year fast approaching, here’s a timely one – especially for all of you who have or will soon adopt a dog, cat or other pet. Olga Horvat, author of Paranormal Pooch, writes:

Experts have estimated that, over a dog’s lifetime, his name will be called over 30,000 times, so a name has to sound right. Words, like thoughts, are a form of energy and vibrate on various frequencies. Picking the right name for a pet can set up the right vibrations for a happy life, while choosing the wrong name can be harmful to the animal, and even to its owner. The scholar and philosopher Jean Houston, in her book, Mystical Dogs, tells about bringing home a new dog and naming him ‘Zeus’, after the Greek god who hurls thunderbolts. That very week, her house was damaged by lightening several times, to the tune of $6,000. “It was evident Zeus was going to live up to his name,” Houston wrote.

I bounced ideas around with my husband, Alex and my daughter, Kathy. We all wanted the puppy to have a distinguished, even royal name, such as ‘Princess Di’, or ‘Princess Grace’. On the other hand, these ladies had short lives (each died in an auto crash); I did not want to associate our dog with such a legacy. Then I thought it would be fun to give her a name after a famous movie dog, such as Lassie, Maya, Nina, Rin Tin Tin, or some other very well-known Hollywood canine. But none of these names pleased me. The ‘perfect dog’ deserves a perfect name.

I kept reading and searching, dreaming up names. There was an interesting historical poodle I read about. In the 17^th century, there was Prince Rupert of the Rhine, nephew to King Charles I of England. Prince Rupert owned a white poodle named Boye. Rumor had it that this dog was possessed by a witch’s spirit. Supposedly, the witch, traveling in the form of a dog, ensured the prince’s victory in his battles against the Parliamentarians. Rupert was a commander in Charles’s cavalry, and Boye was always at his side. Throughout the English Civil War, the Parliament feared the dog, claiming it had supernatural powers. Boye was finally killed at the famously ferocious battle of Marston Moor in June of 1644, which was the first major defeat for Prince Rupert and the Royalists. The defeat, coming as it did with Boye’s death, convinced many that the poodle had indeed been possessed.

Well, I definitely did not want my dog associated with witchcraft and supernatural events and bloody battles. I kept digging for the right name.

One night, a phrase just came to me ‘Princess of Swan Lake’. There was a wonderful children’s movie, Barbie of Swan Lake, directed by Owen Hurley, which we had all enjoyed. Princess of Swan Lake was such a subtle and beautiful fairy tale name, a soft and precious title befitting a darling little creature. When Alex and Kathy heard the name, they instantly knew it was just right. We’d finally found the perfect name.

Olga Horvat, MA, author of Paranormal Pooch

www.RoyalDogsGallery.com

www.facebook.com/olgahorvat

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