Dog Names Ending in D

Howard is the first pop culture dog with a name ending in 'd' that we'll talk about today.  He is the main character in a children's book series written by James Howe and Deborah Howe called Bunnicula.  The series includes seven books, being published from 1979 to 2006, with one of the writers, Deborah Howe, passing away in 1978 only a few months before the first book was printed.  The series, continued by James Howe, is written about the Monroe family and their pets: Howard, the dog and Chester, the cat.  The series is written from Howard's perspective and chronicles a number of family situations which are both hilariously funny and educational simultaneously.  Bunnicula is a bunny that the Monroe family encounters at a theater where they have just watched a movie about Dracula.  The movie title prompted the name Bunnicula which was given to the sweet, lovable little bunny.  Chester, the cat, is quite convinced that the bunny is a vampire and endeavors to attempt to make Howard see this new pet as a potential danger to the Monroe family.  The book's full title, Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery, was the beginning of the book series and also was the basis for the animated TV special Bunnicula, though the film version did not follow the book, giving Bunnicula vampire-like powers which were not present in the book.

Our second pop culture dog with a name ending in 'd' is Lad.  He is the main character in the book titled Lad: A Dog, written by Albert Payson Terhune and published in 1919.  This novel is based on the real life adventures of Terhune's father's dog, Lad, who was an unregistered Rough Collie of unknown lineage who lived from 1902 to 1918.  The death of the real-life Lad in 1918 was actually mourned by many readers, many of whom were children.  Terhune utilized the stories in the book to communicate his beliefs on parenting, obtaining perfect obedience without force and the nature and rights of the "well-bred".  The novel had a rough start but slowly gained popularity and launched several subsequent books, creating a "series" of sorts.  The novel eventually became a best-seller in adult fiction as well as children's fiction, even being repositioned as a young adult novel by Grossett and Dunlap in the 1960's and 1970's.  As one might expect with any popular writing, it drew the attention of the film industry and Warner Brothers released an adaptation of it in 1962.  Additionally, four picture books for children which were based on three of the stories were published by Margo Lundell in 1997 and 1998.