Sure, there's the typical Fluffy, Spot, Rover, Roger, Bill, Simon, Angelina....Have you ever had trouble deciding on what your pet's name will be for the rest of their lives? This is not an easy task! You need to consider their species, colouring, character traits, your other pet's names, names of your family members (I can imagine it would be embarrassing if you name your dog Steve and your husband's name is also Steve and you yell out, “Steve! Time to go pee pee outside!). I had an easier time naming my 2 children, including their middle names!

It is fun looking up all the fun and cute and meaningful names for your pet. I always said if I ever got a bearded dragon it would be a female and I would name her Fred. No Fred yet-just Mia, Loki, Abby and Jonah and my latest rescue boy, Bowser. (I decided to skip the stress of choosing a new name so I stayed with the name the shelter chose for him-he suits it). I will gladly admit it-I am a proud Crazy Cat Lady! and I have the t-shirts to prove it.
My previous cats were Fritz, Kato, Katrina and Winston. My dogs were Dallas and Gryphon. So I chose to give all my pets human names, and usually the cats' names ended in a pronounced vowel. It just happened that way.

How was it for you? Did you know right away that your little ball of kitten fluff would be called Esmarelda? or Chrissy? or maybe it took you a rather long time to finally decide that Clyde was the perfect name for your sweet Pug boy?

There are some fun ways to name your dog or cat. I love the commercial with the chocolate lab named Duck. It was for dog food. The young boy and young pup were always on adventures together and it ends with the boy as a grown young man and Duck was still able to hop in the car, even at his senior stage of life. I also heard of a yellow lab named Fish. Very creative.

We were stuck on the hiway coming home one summer, along with hundreds of other folks who just wanted to get home. We were backed up for hours so anyone with a dog needed to walk it around. That's when we met a very distinguished gentleman, a writer, who introduced us to his two Bassett Hounds-Winston and Churchill. I will never forget meeting them. Perfect names. They were lovely boys.

I would love to hear how you decided on your pets' names and of course, their nicknames! Fritz was our first cat. He was your average brown tabby but he loved to play frisbee with a plastic drink coaster. He's hide behind the door and I'd throw it. Sure enough, he'd come flying out from behind the door and catch it. He never learned to bring it back. Fritz was a joy for sure. He lived to be 13.

Next came Kato, as in the Japanese houseboy of Peter Sellers in the original Pink Panther movies. (They are all hilarious, highly recommend watching them). So Kato (the houseboy and our boy) was famous for jump-scaring Peter Sellers in their house. Kato was the same. He was a skiddish, semi-feral tuxedo boy who loved to attack me, my partner and our other cat. He was found in a snow drift near the Chrysler plant near where we lived. He always growled when he ate, afraid someone or something would steal his food. Kato did, however, love me...a lot....sometimes too much. He would give me such strong head bonks and he'd always wipe his nose on my glasses. He meant well. He lived to be 18.

Our next kitty was Katrina. She was born to a cat mama in a household that was not set up for anyone to live in, let alone a mama cat with babies. A friend took Katrina's brother, Willie, we took Katrina (named after the hurricane in New Orleans the year she was born-2005) and other people adopted the rest. Not sure what became of mama cat. Katrina was another brown tabby but she was the Queen of All Things.

I'm sure you can relate. You've probably had a Ruler of the House pet in your time, or even right now. She slinked around, looking down on her subjects. She was a talker. We said good-bye to Her Majesty, Miss Trina, just last year at the wonderful age of 19. I was with her when she crossed. I was devistated but grateful she graced us with her presence for so many years.

Time to add in the dogs. We finally had a house with a yard so the next logical step-get a dog! The problem was it was a new house, no grass, just mud. You can imagine my floors. Enter Dallas. He was part Black Lab, part Shepherd, part Border Collie and all gentleman. He was responsible for helping several neighbours get over their fear of dogs and he allowed my daughter to hold onto him while she learned to walk AND he raised the next 2 cats from kittens and tolerated Gryphon when he joined us several years later. Dallas was not the brightest boy (he was asked not to return to puppy training. I understood. I trained him myself at home). He had a heart the size of Texas. I was reading a western novel when we got him and I thought he suited the name Dallas. He was a big goof that loved snow, hated the rain and resisted going into the lake with all his strength. We had the absolute honour of being his family until he was 13.

Oh Mia.....Kitty Girl, Mia Muffin. When she was younger (she is now The Countess at 18) and chunkier my kids would refer to her as Mia Meatloaf. It fit. I hope she was never offended. She got her name after a friend's dog named Mia. She is the biggest talker of all of our cats and she makes the best biscuits. I hope she lives to be 25.

Now there's Loki, our second tuxedo. He was another rescue. *FYI all but two of our pets were rescues. He was so sick and thin when he was found on the street the shelter staff thought he was a female! The name Cassie was quickly changed to Loki. Yes, that Loki, the god of mischief. He certainly fit his name! His favourite thing is to be spun on the smooth kitchen floor. Seriously. He sings to my son, does PLOP on the floor and purrs like crazy when he gets spun on the floor. I don't know. He seems happy. Weirdo. He is a spry 11 years old. Also hoping to have him for another 10 years at least.

Then there's Ernie. What can we say about Ernie. Well, he's an orange boy. Nuff said. His heart outweighs his brain by 10. He forcefully hugs you and will not allow you to get up once he's settled on your lap. He willingly wears his shark hat, his cowboy outfit, his butterfly costume and his lifeguard t shirt. I have to say, he is very photogenic. Ernie is still very young-only 7. He has lots of time to make memories at my daughter's house. He has the most nicknames of any of the pets. Ernie-Banernie, Sweet Boy, Mama's Baby, Da Boy, Mama's Love, Hey You and Orange Thing.

Speaking of Orange Things...when my daughter moved out it was obvious Ernie was meant to go with her. (The things you give up for your kids.) so I needed another orange boy! I needed one for my collection. A friend who does rescue found him and 37 other mama cats and babies in a barn beside a local farm shop. It was slated to be turned into condos soon so the cats needed to be collected and adopted out.

All the cats had apple names. I got Jonah Gold. He was a tiny orange boy with big ears and big eyes. He is now 4 and is the size of a small dog. He grew into his ears...and quickly into my heart. He needs 2 cat beds to fit his long legs and he's great at bug patrol. Jonah is awesome.

The next cat is Abby. Aka Abby Caddaby. She came to us as a feral rescue at 1 year old, already having had a litter while living on a farm. I got her on October 30 so I wanted to find a nice Halloween name but nothing evil. Abby Caddaby is the magical little fairy from Sesame Street. It was perfect. She's a beautiful black little girl. So tiny, actually. She never had the chance to fully grow. The farmer said, “Make sure you take THAT one, black cats are bad luck”. She's good luck for me. It took us over two years to be able to touch her and get close to her. She's now 7 and she doesn't leave me alone. She's the happiest little creature. So lucky to have her.

I saved Gryphon for last because he is the reason why I have my pet treat company. Gryphy was our gorgeous Blue Merle Aussie boy with a huge tail and so much personality. He came to us as a puppy and immediately excelled in puppy training and puppy agility. He was our “gifted child” but also very loving.

We were bringing him home from where we got him and couldn't decide on a good name. My son said Gryphon, but not spelled Griffin. Spell it G-R-Y-P-H-O-N. He said this puppy is unique. His name should be spelled in a different way too. It stuck. Gryphon soon became Gryphy, Gryphy-pants, Gryphy-Boy and many others. As with many Aussies, Gryphy developed cancer and passed at only age 9. None of us wanted to believe it was his time. I promised him I would keep making the dog cookies I created for him and Dallas. I kept my promise. Gryphy's Cookie Jar dog cookie company has grown into Blue Rose Pet Bakery-Premium Treats for Allergen-Sensitive Pets.

​A blue rose is not a usual flower, it shouldn't exist. Allergies are also not usual. We shouldn't have them, but we do, myself included. Everyone needs a treat. Every pet should have a goodie that will not cause concerns. My mission is to keep making healthy, tasty, safe pet treats for all the Georges, Fionas, Coopers, Teddys, Henrys, Bellas and whatever else you name your pet.