Do you like your name or do you hide it with an initial and use your less objectionable middle name? Are many of your friends unaware of your given name because they know you only by your favored nickname? Our pets, like our children, often suffer the consequences of a poorly chosen name. But unlike people, our pets are unable to assume an alias.

Perhaps it is not that important. A Great Dane with the moniker Tiny will not suffer humiliation at smiles and raised eyebrows. Nor will a proud feline cringe or refuse to eat when prompted by the call,  “Snookums, dinnertime.”  Besides it is great fun to select a creative name for your new pet.

Some people decide to wait a while to determine the personality of the animal before picking its name and others will chose a name based upon physical characteristics. Human names for pets have become extremely popular indicative of how many of us consider our pets to be important family members. While you are having fun picking a name for a new pet, consider these guidelines suggested by pet professionals:

• Pick a one-syllable name like Jake or Pete to make it easier for your pet to learn and to recognize it.
• Chose a name that will not be confused with a command.  (The names “Joe” or Neil” may sound like “No” or “Heel” to your canine companion.)
• Select a name that is easy to call (and won’t embarrass you).

Another amusing aspect of pet naming comes when there are multiple animals involved. Here are a few naming possibilities:

• Bonnie and Clyde
• Frank and Beans
• Fred and Barney
• Ginger and Nutmeg
• Master and Sergeant
• Seaman and Chief

Baxter in his Pool

For no particular reason, we named our chocolate Labrador retriever Baxter. But he has also developed the unfortunate nickname of Pooper to which he responds… We try not to use it in public.

In Memory May 27, 2011 - Jack Breiner

When I make late evening visits to animals while their owners are away, they tend to be perfunctory. But one evening I found myself sitting on a dog bed long beyond my departure time playing catch with Jack, a goofy black lab. Jack is the first dog I have ever met that actually picks up a ball and tosses it. I even found he’d fake in one direction, and toss it in the other when I prematurely leaned. I suspect I enjoyed that visit more than he did.

The best thing about having become a pet sitter is that I have learned to play again. This is something my AARP magazine doesn’t talk about. It has articles about the importance of staying physically and mentally active. They write of walking, bicycling, and ballroom dancing; they encourage we do mental calisthenics with daily puzzles and crosswords. But no one writes about the importance of play—in an unrestrained, unsophisticated way—at a mature age.

Research shows that for a developing child, unstructured play is imperative for social, emotional, and cognitive development. I would argue that it is equally important in our later years. Since I now spend much of my time actively playing, I find I am more creative than I have ever been in my adult life. I have more energy. And I perceive more of the humor in everyday living.

As I agedly regress, listening to Lady Gaga, playing keep-away with dogs, bouncing to country music with parrots, rolling on the floor with furry critters—I encourage my fellow AARP members to relearn how to play. And for an always willing playmate, I suggest you adopt a shelter animal.

[This first appeared as the "Editor's Notes" in the April/May 2010 issue of Pet Tails.]

Social media has forever changed the way we interact with the world, be it the interactions with friends and family or business associates and clients. A recent New York Times article, “I Tweet Therefore I Am,” questioned whether or not people truly enjoy an experience when they are so preoccupied with figuring out what they are going to say about it in 140 characters or less to their hundreds of online followers.

In my daily pet care business, I maintain journals for the animals that I see on a regular basis. In them I describe how a dog—I usually don’t visit cats on an ongoing, daily basis—is behaving during my visit and our activities together. These daily entries are my low-tech version of a daily tweet, having only one or two followers. Like those that send their tweets out into the internet cloud, I too am often preoccupied by what it is I am going to say about my time with an animal. (There is only so much that can be written about a dog’s bodily functions.)

After reading the Times article, I became concerned I was not enjoying my time spent with the animals and not giving them as much attention as I should because of my need to “tweet” about the experience. My thought pattern became a vicious cycle of trying to focus on the animal’s activities, pleasures, and the context of the moment—immersing myself in our time together— juxtaposed with observing it from an outsider’s perspective. (Although, this vigilance does have a positive side benefit. By knowing well what normal behavior is for the dog, it is easier to discern what might be indicative of an illness, injury, or even signs of stress the animal is feeling.)

Ultimately, it seems that there is a delicate balance between being conscious enough about what is we are experiencing without losing the pleasure of the moment. I came to realize that I would have often missed the pleasure of seeing an unusual bird tucked into a tree or the beauty of a flower if I hadn’t been paying close attention to my furry friends in order to comment upon them. They draw my attention to what it is they see, hear, or smell.

As a dog walker I have far too much time alone to think and like most things in life, it’s all about moderation. I’ll have to log into my Twitter account and tweet about this.

[This is the "Editor's Notes" from the April/May '11 issue of Pet Tails.]