Dog Name Contest: And the Winner Is…

As promised, the long awaited results to the dog name contest are in. Your passion and creativity are to be commended. Of the 54 responses, a few common themes seemed to bubble up to the surface. One of those was naming your dog for the headaches he/she might cause in the future. There was Damnit, Bug’s (as in, always bugging me unless she’s hunting), and Pita (for pain-in-the ass).

Another trend was naming your pooch after your favorite rifle. We had Savage, Ruger, Remington, and Winchester.

Pop culture seemed to play a role as well. Gus was named after the cowboy in Lonesome Dove. Sawyer came from a character in “Lost,” and Jethro after the character Leroy Jethro Gibbs on “NCIS.” There was also Maggie named after the Door’s song, “Maggie McGill.”

The one that really made us laugh was Balzac…which, if you’re wondering has really nothing to do with the French novelist of the same name.

Two that almost took the prize were Rebel Lighting Scout (a yellow Lab whose name comes from a mix of an old hunting vehicle and a thunderstorm that raged when the dog was first brought home) and Hondo (A Boykin named in part because the owner has a houseful of girls and a reference to John Wayne sure can’t hurt).

But in the end we decided on Shadow Brandi, a Lab pup owned and trained by a 12-year-old boy (who goes by the name Brittle on this blog). Brittle named the dog after two of his late grandfather’s favorite pooches, and he hopes to be enjoying his first hunting season with her this fall. Congrats, Brittle. Send an email with your address to: mbfcontest@gmail.com. I’ll ship the six pack of Cabela’s training dummies. Hope you and Shadow Brandi wear ’em out.