Dog Names Woof

Because of Veteran’s Day over the weekend our name this week is:

Willie

Willie was General George S. Patton’s Bull Terrior.

General Patton was an avid animal lover. He bought the first of many bull terriers just after World War I for his daughters, Beatrice and Ruth Ellen, and named him Tank. Although Tank turned out to be deaf, the girls loved him and called him by stamping on the floor. In spite of his deafness, Tank somehow always knew when Patton was arriving home and met him at the front door.

The most famous bull terrier owned by General Patton was purchased on 4 March, 1944. He was named Willie, short for “William the Conqueror.” Willie was devoted to General Patton and followed him everywhere.

When General Patton bought Willie, he wrote in his diary, “My bull pup . . . took to me like a duck to water. He is 15 months old, pure white except for a little lemin [sic] on his tail which to a cursory glance would seem to indicate that he had not used toilet paper. . .” Willie wore jingle bells on his collar so everyone would know when he was around. He supposedly had his own set of “dog tags,” too.

Photo Credit: This photo was taken by a U.S. Army photographer in Europe after D-day, in 1944 or early 1945. It shows US 3rd Army Commander Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. in his 3 star uniform and helmet surrounded by his staff of one and two star generals. At his feet is his English Bull Terrier “William the Conqueror” (usually called Willie).

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This week we look at two dog names:

Grenouille and Faussete

Perhaps the most famous dachshund lover of all, was Napoleon Bonaparte. In this early painting of the emporor as a young man, his trusty dappled long-hair dachshund Grenouille stands attentively beside him.

Later in life, Napoleon acquired a taste for smooth-hair dachshunds, like the one included in this later portrait, a female named Faussete, which was probably tan or red in color.

Napoleon loved these dogs passionately, and kept dachshunds with him his entire life. Although he was a fierce warrior general, and he respected the strength and tenacity of his dogs, Napoleon refused to take his dachshunds into battle, for he loved them so and could not bear the thought of losing them to the hand of an enemy.

Having owned several dachhunds over his life, Napoleon was known to weep for days when they died.

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This week we look at the dog name:

Mopsey

Mopsey was one of George Washington’s favorite Hound Dogs.

He had over 10 of them as well as other dog breeds.

Unfortunately because of the time, few notes were left about Mopsey other than brief mentions in several of his journals. Mopsey and her brothers and sisters were often noted.

Picture: George Washington out hunting with his hounds

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Highlighted this week is the dog name:

Scannon

This may or may not have been the name of Meriwether Lewis’s black Newfoundland that went with him on the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific.

Interestingly enough, for many years, scholars believed the Newfoundland’s name was Scannon, until 1984, when Donald Jackson (one of the pre-eminent Lewis and Clark historians) noticed a stream in one of Clark’s maps clearly designated as “Seaman’s Creek.”

He went back to the original journals, studied the handwriting, and determined that what previous editors had believed was “Scannon” was instead “Seaman.” (Which for a Newfoundland makes more sense than Scannon.)

Seaman is not mentioned in the journals after July 15, 1806, on the return trip, when Lewis was at the Great Falls and notes that his dog was being plagued by mosquitoes.

So, from the written record, we can’t say for sure what happened to him. But it is firmly believed by most expedition scholars that Seaman made it back to St. Louis with the rest of the Corps of Discovery. Why? Because it is inconceivable that the dog’s death, disappearance, or abandonment would have gone unremarked in the journals of Lewis, Clark, or any of the other men.

Information from pbs.org

For more dog names please visit us at: www.dognameswoof.com

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The dog name I chose to highlight this week is:

Balto

Balto was a black, long-haired Siberian Husky that led Gunnar Kasson’s Dog team in February 1925. Balto led the dog team through a blizzard to reach Nome, Alaska with antitoxin serum for the Diphtheria epidemic that was raging there.

A statue to Balto can still be found today in New York City’s Central Park.

Picture Credit: Celebrated sled dog Balto with Gunnar Kaasen. (Photo: Brown Brothers.) Norwegian immigrant Gunnar Kaasen was the musher on the dog team that successfully delivered diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska in 1925. Lead dog for that final leg of the 600-mile trip was the indomitable Balto.

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The dog name I chose to highlight this week is:

Dash

Queen Victoria was a dog lover and Dash was her prized Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Dash was not one of the short-nosed varieties in vogue at the time.

The Queen’s diary reveals that the same day in 1837 that she was crowned, she came home to give Dash a bath.

Queen Victoria’s mother commissioned Edwin Landseer (1802-1873) to paint a portrait of Dash as a present for her seventeenth birthday.

Throughout her lifetime, Queen Victoria commissioned many dog portraits. Although artwork featuring dogs goes back centuries before her time, her influence significantly increased the popularity of dog art, especially portraits of pet dogs.

Prior to Queen Victoria’s time, dogs in paintings had primarily been represented in sporting scenes.

Picture Credit: Sir Edward Landseer (1802-1873), Queen Victoria’s Dog, "Dash";

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This Week’s cool historical dog names is:

Buddy

Buddy was a female German Shepherd who became the first Seeing Eye dog in the United States.

In 1927, Morris Frank a blind man from Tennesee wrote Dorothy Harrison Eustis. The letter said, "Thousands of blind people like me abhor being dependent on others." "Help me and I will help them. Train me and I will bring back my dog and show people here how a blind man can be absolutely on his own."

Morris Frank’s letter moved Dorothy, a champion breeder and trainer of German Shepherds, convincing her that she had to do something to help. She invited Morris to visit her in Switzerland to see what could be done.

Dorothy had become interested in guide dogs after visiting a school in Germany that had taught them to help blind war veterans. An article she wrote inspired Mr. Frank to imagine greater independence for blind people everywhere.

He and Dorothy agreed to pursue this goal together, starting with the training of Buddy.

When Morris Frank took Buddy home, she became the first official guide dog in the United States. Morris and Buddy toured the nation together, attracting attention from the public and the press. People were amazed by their ability to cross busy streets and master other challenges of daily life.

Morris Frank was thrilled by his new freedom and Dorothy Eustis soon opened the first school in the United States for guide dogs for the blind, which she named The Seeing Eye.

There are about 7,000 guide dogs working in America today. They are trained to respond to commands but also to think on their own – to disobey if told to cross the street when a car is coming.

For more dog names go to www.dognameswoof.com

Photo Credit: Morris Frank, Dorothy Harrison Eustis, and Buddy I, the founders of The Seeing Eye. (Photo: The Seeing Eye)

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This week our Historical Dog Name is also a very unique dog name!

This week I chose the dog name:

Nipper

Nipper was the Fox Terrier that appears with the phonograph in the RCA trademark. He was a real dog and was not just some concoction of a marketing department.

Nipper the dog (1884-1895), who was born in Bristol England, got his name because he tended to nip the backs of visitors’ legs.

Nipper’s first owner Mark Barraud died destitute and Nipper was taken in by Mark’s younger brother Francis, a painter.

Nipper would listen to the Phonograph, and Francis Barraud "often noticed how puzzled Nipper was to make out where the voice came from." This scene seemed to make a strong memory for Francis Barraud, because it wasn’t until three years after Nipper died that he painted the now famous image.

Francis’s final name for the painting was "His Master’s Voice."

The painting took on several revisions and changes and the original Phonograph was changed to a Gramophone, but eventually it became the image we all know, and we all remember Nipper the dog!

Click here for more Unique Dog Names.

Upper Pictures: Nipper the Dog
Lower Picture: Francis Barraud painting his now famous image

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This week I thought it would be fun to start looking at some names of dogs that have some historical background.

This week I chose the dog name:

Laddie Boy

Laddie Boy was the name of the Airedale that belonged to President Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States from 1921 to 1923. Here are some fun and interesting facts about Laddie Boy and President Harding:

Laddie Boy (January 23, 1919 to 1929) was an Airedale terrier owned by US President Warren G. Harding and was a celebrity during the Harding administration.

Laddie boy had his own hand carved chair to sit in during cabinet meetings.

Laddie Boy, delivered President Harding’s newspaper each day.

The white house held birthday parties for Laddie Boy, invited other neighborhood dogs to join, and served them a birthday party and a cake made of dog biscuits.

Newspapers published mock interviews with the dog.

Purportedly, the dog howled constantly the 3 days prior to the president’s death at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, knowing of his master’s imminent demise.

In memorial of president Harding, newsboys collected 19,134 pennies to be remelted and sculpted into a statue of Laddie Boy.

Harding’s widow died before the statue was completed in 1927 and the statue was presented to the Smithsonian Institute where it currently resides today.

Some interesting facts about President Harding:

Harding was the first president to speak over the radio.

He was the first president to visit Canada. He stopped in Vancouver on his way to Alaska.

He was also the first president to visit Alaska.

Harding was the first president to ride to his inauguration in a car.

Warren G. Harding was the first president to have a public golf course named after him.

Out of all the presidents, Harding had the biggest feet. He wore size fourteen shoes.

Picture Credits:

1. President Harding with Laddie Boy and 2 children, Photo from The Library of Congress

2. Laddie Boy’s Birthday Cake. Description: President and Mrs. Harding’s dog, Laddie Boy, receives a birthday cake on his third birthday. Date: July 25, 1922. Creator: Herbert E. French, National Photo Company. Credit: Library of Congress.

3. Florence Harding and Laddie Boy. Photo from The Library of Congress

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