Dog Names that Start with Sh

There are many good dog names that begin with Sh, but the name Shep seems to be especially popular, particularly for farm dogs and breeds that were traditionally used for herding. It was a name seen repeatedly in movies and on televisions. One of the earliest canine actors was named Shep, a male Collie dog also known as the Thanhouser Collie. He was a silent film actor for the Thanhouser company who played roles in several short films between 1913 and 1914 as well as being featured in the 1914 serial film, “The Million Dollar Mystery.” One of the most well-known of the pets on the popular BBC television series for children in the 1970s was a Border Collie with the same name. A German Shepherd named Shep and an orphan boy are the focus of the movie “My Dog Shep,” starring the canine actor Flame and a very young Tom Neal in 1946 and again in the lesser-known sequel, “Shep Comes Home,” and more recently, the faithful dog that accompanies the teenage protagonist, Rosalyn, also received the moniker Shep in the 2015 thriller “Night of the Wild.” In the 1995 comedy “George of the Jungle,” starring Brendan Fraser, even the decidedly dog-like elephant that George plays fetch with is dubbed Shep.

Dogs with the name of Shep seem to have a talent for finding their way to the railroad as well. Shep, better known as Old Shep, was the name of the farm dog that found himself in Fort Benton in 1936, following his owner, a sheepherder who had fallen ill. The unnamed sheepherder, unfortunately, did not recover from his illness, and his body was sent by railway to relatives back east. Old Shep tried to follow the train that carried his master’s body, but eventually, he came back to the station and waited; for five and a half years Shep greeted each train that arrived at the station, waiting for his master to return. During Shep’s vigil, he became a sensation when he was featured in Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and when the faithful dog died in 1942, his funeral was attended by thousands. His grave is decorated with a steel cutout and lights illuminating his name, spelled out in white stones, and a bronze statue of the dog was erected in 1994. In 1950, another dog wandered onto the construction site of the Boulder-Denver turnpikes and decided to stay. He was given the name Shep and cared for by turnpike operators while regulars through the turnpike often left him toys or added a little to the toll so that he would have enough for food, and in 1958 when he returned to the turnpike for the night with a mysterious shotgun wound, local veterinarian Dr. Clyde Brunner, treated the dog's wounds for free. He was well-loved and well-cared for many years, and when he passed away in 1964 the marble headstone at his grave bore his image and was inscribed with the words, “Shep, 1950-1964, Part shepherd-- Mostly affection.”