Dog Names Meaning Healthy

There are many influences that can affect the names that we choose for our pets, not the least of which are the things that we read and the things that we watch, both fiction and nonfiction. I personally know of at least one Beagle puppy that was given the moniker Turtle after the puppy that the main character receives in the well-known and well-loved children’s novel by Judy Blume, “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing,” probably without even realizing that turtles often represent good health and a long life. Another recent canine character from literature, and later the big screen, that has a name related to health is Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa was a giant, lovable puppy that played a key role in the romantic comedy novel “Must Love Dogs,” written by Clair Cook in 2002, about the ups and downs of meeting new people and being open to new possibilities after divorce. Although in the novel Mother Teresa was originally written as a Saint Bernard puppy, the movie, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, featured two six-month-old Newfoundland dogs named Molly and Maeve in the role, due to the director's fondness for the breed. After the filming of “Must Love Dogs” concluded in 2005 the director of the movie, Gary David Goldberg, adopted both Molly and Maeve.

Sometimes it is the stories that we read in the newspaper that can influence our choices, particularly stories of unlikely heroes, like Jade the German Shepherd in Birmingham, England. Jade, a nine-year-old German Shepherd, and her owner, sixty-eight-year-old Roger Wilday were taking a stroll together in Stechford park when her quick thinking and alert nature saved the life of a newborn infant. When Jade investigated a noise in the bushes she found a discarded carrier bag, laid down next to it, and refused to leave. When Wilday observed the infant in the plastic bag move and start to cry, he immediately contacted local police and the baby, estimated to be less than a day old and suffering from hypothermia, was swiftly rescued from the elements. Hospital staff at Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham credited the dog’s actions for the infant’s survival and dubbed the infant “Baby Jade,” in honor of her rescuer, bringing further attention to the name. It took two weeks of recovery in an incubator at the hospital, but Baby Jade was eventually healthy enough to be released into foster care.