NOTES FROM SORD: Names
We all come into S/R with a names. We just cannot tell you our names. If our people bring us in, they tell you our names. When our name is not known, we are given a name by the S/R people.
It is important that we have a name. That means that we have an identity, that we mean something to someone.

And they start calling us by that new name. Don't blame us if we don't respond right away. We don't know that you are talking to us. It takes some getting used to. Sometimes we finally get used to a new name and our people come and reclaim us. Then we need to remember our old name!

And when we go to our forever home, our new people may give us a new name. Talk about confusion. S/Rs probably each their own of choosing names for us. Our names can be based on what we look like, like Spot, or our traits, like Hopper, or regular people names, or seasons, or ---well, we are named for just about anything. The names mean something to the people, but we do not always understand that meaning. We hope that it is a name that makes us feel good. We have enough going on without having a name that makes people laugh at us or give a bad impression of us. We just know that we are supposed to come when called by a name that someone has given us. But it is nice to hear someone calling us with joy and pleasure.

Parsi: I don't even remember my name when I came to the shelter. There they named me Abe. But when I went home my name was changed. Dick names the golden retrievers after some character in opera. Their previous goldens were Lohengrin and Mahler. So I was named Parsifal, or Parsi for short.

Millie: It's been easy for me. I have always had this name.

Our name is important. When we keep our name going to a new home, it is a recognition of our past. When we are given a new name, it is a new beginning. Just call us by a name that is ours alone, that recognizes that we are different from others, and that we mean something to you.