I was looking at happy pictures of pet quality dogs with their new families on a reputable breeders website and I noticed that a lot of the dogs had "everyday" names that were part of their longer "show names".

Are the new owners just using part of a show name that the breeder picked? Or was it the new owner saying, "I want to call her Penny" that made breeder registered the name as "Dumbly Dore's Penny in the Bank"?

How old is the typical purebred pup when he's named?

I always thought the naming conventions was similar to that of thoroughbred horses ... the parents' names are taken in account when naming a new animal. I think a variation on it with purebred dogs is that the breeders' name (or kennel) is part of the name.

Phoebe is a purebred and her purebred name (before I named her Phoebe) was Little Star of Rocky Ridge. when I bought her, they gave me papers that showed her lineage, that her mother's family had all been Rocky Ridge dogs, but her father's family had come from another kennel, Sunnybrook.

There are many ways of naming show puppies, here are a few of the usual ones:

1. Usually the breeder's kennel name is part of the registered name and the buyer's kennel name may also be there, usually added as "of", for instance Happy kennel bred the puppy who was sold to Starlight kennel. The puppy could be named "Happy Puppy of Starlight".

2. Some breeders use part of the parents' names in the puppy's name, for instance, a puppy sired by "High Flyer" and who's mom is "China Doll" could be called "Flying Doll".

3. Some breeders use letters of the alphabet to name pups in a litter, with all having names using the same first letter, such as the "R" litter with Rosie, Ranger, Reyna, Rascal, etc.

4. Some breeders use themes for each litter. For instance, a litter with an "automobile" theme could use names such as "Jeep" and "Mercedes" or "Lexus".

Registered names and house or "call" names may or may not be related. I usually assign registered names and give call names based on the individual's personality. For instance, my girl who's registered name is "Thyme After Thyme" (Spice theme) is actually called Lucie at home.

These are just a few of the methods for naming puppies.