If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know that we have some unusual names for our rescued dogs. Somebody might even dare say weird.
Hush, Somebody! We agree with you!
See, there are a lot of Rescue Groups, all over the country. And with more Rescue Groups, means more rescued dogs (yay!). A lot of groups have their own websites – and having your own website really is a must – but one of the biggest resources available is PetRescue. It is one of the most commonly used websites when potential adopters are looking for a rescue dog to join their family.
All Rescue Groups have the same goal; to rehome their animals. And with more and more groups listing in the same place, it can become a bit like competition. You need to go above and beyond to get your dogs noticed, to entice the potential adopter to click on your dogs’ profiles. Because while we all want every dog to get adopted, we do have our own Rescues to run, and our own dogs to adopt out.
As it stands, on PetRescue, there is limited information available when searching. You have the name, photo, gender, breed, and a snippet of a write-up on the dog itself. Most of this takes care of itself but the two biggest things that will stay in people’s minds when they are scrolling through those listings are the photo and the name.
Not everyone is as lucky to have such a fantastic photographer like Ruthless Photos onboard but most Rescues do try to get the best photos they can of the dog, because everyone knows how important it is. For us, however, the name is equally as important.
Doing a quick search through the listings right now, you’ll see multiples of names such as Shadow, Molly, Milly, Bear, Storm, Lucy, Baxter, Buddy, Jesse, etc. These are all really nice, pleasant names. And most adopters will choose to rename their dogs to something a bit more socially acceptable anyway.
For us, we don’t want our names to be just nice or just pleasant. We want them to stand out and to grab attention. Sure, people may laugh at some of the names we come up with (our carers sure do!), but they will stick in people’s minds. After all, it’s not every day you bump into a dog called Mazeltov, Wasabi, Safari, Quidditch, Azkaban, Samurai, Radical, Smirnoff, or Ditto.
It’s true that not every potential adopter will want a dog with an unusual name. But that’s the beauty of adopters – they’re likely to change the name no matter what it is. So why not make it a little more attention-grabbing when there’s so many nice, pleasantly named dogs in the same place?
On a more serious note, and one of the bigger reasons we choose our sometimes hilarious names is because it makes our foster carers smile. Seriously, try calling your dog ‘Quidditch’ and try not to have a smile on your face. And do you know what a smile does to you, personally? It gives you positive energy. Heck, it’ll give everyone in the dog park a smile. When you have positive energy, your dog will have positive energy. Just by saying a name like Quidditch when you’re training him, you’re already giving off good vibes.
So, in a nutshell, because we do get asked a lot, that is why we’ll call our dogs unusual names and change names of dogs that already come with one. And the best thing? It works. We’ve been told so many times that the reason an adopter kept coming back to one of our rescued dogs is because their photo and name stuck in their mind.
So there we go. Get out there and be creative. Let your imagination run wild. Give a rescue dog a name that will make you smile. But when all is said and done, it’s all about what works best for you.
