According to nextdoor.com, the top ten dog names for Denver doggies are, from last to first,  Maggie,  Charlie,  Sadie,  Molly,  Buddy,  Max,  Daisy,  Baily,  Lucy,  and coming in at number one, Bella.  Good girl.

But what’s in a name, you say?  You can name your Airdale anything you want, but sit!  Stay!  And listen to professional dog trainer Pat Andreason from Colorado Dog Academy in Broomfield.

He’s been training dogs for 40 years and the first consideration you should make when choosing a name is, keep it short. “It’s easier for them to learn a shorter name than a multi-syllable name. They do better with sharp, precise sounds than long, drawn out syllables.”

Second, does the name fit your fido?  “I try to look at a dog maybe at it’s physical appearance. Maybe some kind of attitude, action or behavior that it expresses,” Andreason said.

And last, if you have kids, make the name easy for them to pronounce. “We have a dog here that is now named Duck. It started out being Duke but the two year old couldn’t really say Duke.”

Happy National Dog Day!