# How did you choose your dog's name?



## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

Gryff is short for Gryffindor. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. I wanted to name him Quaffle, but that one got shot down.


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## Suuske747 (May 9, 2007)

Sierra is named after the beautiful song called "Sierra Madre", which is a special song to my partner and me, Sierra means desert mountain range, which was exactly her colour as well when she was a pup, she's sable 

PS: here's a huge Potter fan too!!))


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## Sunnygirl (Jun 1, 2007)

Nico: This is the temporary call name the breeder gave him (his whole litter had "N" names). We liked it, so we kept it.

Desi: This is the name his prior owners gave him. Their names were Ricky and Lucy, so it's pretty obvious how they came up with the name. We kept that one, too.


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## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Jasper was going to be Rudy- because as a puppy he had the coloring of a rain deer (rudolph) But when we got him home he just wasn't a Rudy... and rudy no, all the time started to sound like wuldy--- so we went back to the list and looking at him looked at each name and Jasper was a perfect fit--- 

When we got Cash I just knew that he had to be the "dog in black" named after Johnny Cash.

I love harry potter too--- I thought though it might be short for griffin


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## marbenv (May 31, 2007)

Oscar was named after Oscar de la Hoya because we like boxing .

Marsha


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## Callalilly (Apr 30, 2007)

My little dog with the big name "Callalilly" happened because I made the big mistake of letting my, then 4 y/o, name her. I think if I had another name at the time that I really liked better I would have insisted on it. But we call her Callie anyway so it all worked out.


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## LuvMyHavanese (Apr 13, 2007)

Dreamer & Tripp came to me with those names already. I really didnt care for them at 1st but i got used to it. Dreamer was named after a song & Tripp i think was named after a trip they took. 

It took me a week to come up with Jax. I was at work and just kept going thru names & nothing seemed to fit. Someone suggested the name Jax & it was ok at the time. I cant say that i really love it though.


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## Laurief (Nov 7, 2006)

I have no girl children, only boys, so choosing a girls name was tough for me. I wanted an L - to go with Laurie - and I loved the idea of a flower name. So that is where Lily came from. Then when Lexi came along, I just felt it needed to still be an L name, and I love the name Lexi.
When I was getting a boy, again, it had to be an L name, so I had Lance, Logan, and Luciano, but my son loves Logan from Xmen, and I love Logan from Gilmore girls, so that is where he got his name! Now that it is all said & done, I wish I had been more imaginative but I love my 3 L's!!


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## dotndani (Mar 19, 2007)

When we found out we were getting a chocolate HAv, we were stumped with finding a name.Coco was out,as was Brownie.We almost picked Hershey,but then hubby found out that Duncan in Gaelic means dark skinner warrior,so we ran with it.


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## Lina (Apr 26, 2007)

Kubrick, obviously, is named after Stanley Kubrick who is my favorite director. When I knew that I was going to get a darker colored dog, I knew that Kubrick would be a perfect name as Kubrick (the director) had a full dark beard for part of his life and it made sense to me. Since he was my birthday present from my fiance, I got to name him whatever I wanted... though after I did, everyone agreed that it does sound like a cute dog name and it fits him really well! Plus, Kubrick responded to his name right away! He knew it was his name from day 1 and would always turn to us when called! 

Also, some people do call him Stan when they find out his name is Kubrick but he doesn't care at all for that... he just looks at them like they're crazy. LOL!


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## Paige (Sep 12, 2006)

I wanted unusual names for my boys. I have two girls and a female lab(AXL), so I never got to name a boy. So I came up with Reece, Preston and Nigel. I wanted to name them after heavy metal groups, but didn't want to name a dog korn or godsmack, so I had to nix that idea.


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## Sissygirl (Aug 8, 2007)

I had wanted an inside dog and my husband kept saying NO! My daughter came home from work and said that someone at her work got a new puppy and named it Sissy - I said OHHH I want a Sissy. 

I cut a picture out of a magazine and put it on the fridge and put "Sissy" on the picture. It was there for two years!!!! Everyone kept saying when mom gets "Sissy" and my husband would roll his eyes.

I finally started looking for a puppy - started looking at the Bichon Frise but found the Havanese and fell in love. 

When I found the website of "Sissy" - I emailed her picture to my husband and had him open the email while I was on the phone with him and said
"Honey, meet Sissy" - that was that - we went and picked her up.

There a little more in between but that's the jist.

My husband is Sissy's biggest fan - he loves her so much and she loves him, too.:biggrin1: 

Marie


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## kgiese (Apr 18, 2007)

Like some of your husbands, mine was agast at the price tag for a Havanese and I really had to do some work on him to get him to agree to letting me buy one. So while we were waiting for him, all I did was talk about the havanese we were getting and my husband said I was becoming obsessed. So, I decided that I would try to come up with a name that my husband would like, and also that was short and easy for the dog to answer to. It hit me one day on my way home from work about 3 weeks before we got him to name him Hank, because my husband is a big fan of Hank Williams (Sr.) So that's how we got Hank. And by the way, my husband and Hank are crazy about each other. Although I would like to get another one, I think Hank will probably always be an only child.

Karen
Hank's Mom


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## Laurief (Nov 7, 2006)

I can say that my hubby was the same way - no way were we going to #1 get a dog, and #2 spend that much on a dog. When I found my pups I named them right away, emailed him pics of them with their names, made up little songs about them etc etc. He fell in love with each one for different reasons and now would not live without any of them!!


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## RickR (Feb 15, 2007)

Max - Maxwell Smart, if we get another....it's name may be 
"Agent 99"


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## Olliesmom (Sep 29, 2006)

I had always wanted to name a new pup Reagan - if I ever got a puppy. Just liked the name....When we picked up Ollie and brought him home my son said....that's too political! That eve I went to check out the pedigree of him and lo and behold....he had ancestors by the name of Oreiley Factor and some other political names! So I tricked my son and agreed that Reagan was to political.....little did he know that Oliver (Ollie) is a political name too! His registered name is Oliver de Havilland...after the actress!

Jan named Austin "Power" at birth and I flew from CA to Texas to get him....so I tried to connect Power and Texas - Came close to naming him Ranger - for Power Ranger and Texas Ranger then thought of Austin Powers and then it correlated with Austin Texas...so after a vote and his doofy cute little face when we called him Austin - he was christened!!


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## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

Gryff's name from the breeder was Knuckles. I should have kept it because he is a total knucklehead.


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

I always named the love Isabelle and that what I named my maltese. I thought if you are going to have an Isabelle, you should have an Isadora and I named my havanese Dora. Well, they say be careful of what you name them and you should because Dora is a total explorer.

The cutest thing is my young family members go around calling them Dora and Boots!

Amanda
(whos is gonna have to think of another Isa name before I can add a third!)


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## irnfit (Nov 21, 2006)

Kodi's Mom was named Alaska. She was a white Hav. All the pups names were take offs on that. The breeder named him Kodiak and we just shortened it to Kodi. 

We originally chose Cassie for Shelby, but she didn't like it. She would not answer to that name. Her sire's name is Shelby and I liked that, so it stick. She liked it too. It was probably familiar to her, so she responded to it.


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## CinnCinn (Mar 30, 2007)

Good question!

Well, Rudy is Rudy because:
#1 My sister was bustin' my chops about buying a purebread dog with a purebread price tag. She said, quote "how very Republican of you". So, I thought - okay, Rudy Giuliani he is.ound: eace:

#2 His registered name is Rudolph Valentino. His dad's name is Love To Tango. Rudolph Valentino made the dance the Tango famous.

#3 applies to both Rudy & Rocky
I'm nutting about stories of perserverance & persistence in achieving goals. Rudy the Notre Dame football player & Rocky, well you know, ROCKY!:boxing:

Rocky is also short & stocky. I think his AKC name will be _He's Obviously Hot!_

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's responses. This is a fun thread!


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

It was either going to be Waldo (from the Where's Waldo books) or Oliver. He wouldn't respond to Waldo but would to Oliver. So I guess it was his choice


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## Poornima (Jun 29, 2007)

When we saw a little black and white silky soft furball with expressive soulful eyes, my husband and I were reminded of the famous film dog character of our childhood. That's how our Benji got his name 

Best,
Poornima


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## Cheryl (Mar 17, 2007)

The oldest is Brutus because that is what my hubby wanted to name his small dog and I didn't are because I got the small dog.

Roxie was named after being born in Rocklin, CA. She will be Mop Top's Rock n Roxie and she is quite the dancer!


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## dboudreau (Jan 12, 2007)

My husband wanted another German Shepherd, I wanted a small dog. So we compromised, a "little dog" with a "big name". Samson. We did call him Samson for a couple of months but it got shortened to "Sam".


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## arlene (Jul 28, 2007)

When I first got Javi, I was looking for a Cuban name or something with a Cuban ring to it . . . Hubby kept coming up with Cigars and it didn't seem quite right. I am on the board of a volunteer organization and one of the other board members is a really "cute" young man named Javier . . . Javi the Havanese . . . just sort of stuck.

We picked Phoebe up from the breeder on Halloween. She is black with white chin, chest and toes . . . so we were looking for a "witchy" name. Phoebe is one of the witches in Charmed . . . also Phoebe in Greek mythology is Artemis, goddess of the moon.

Arlene

P.S. One of these days I'm going to post some pics . . .


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## CapotesMom (Apr 3, 2007)

Capote was going to be Bogart..bogie for short. But I have an OBSESSION with Tiffany's the jewelry store, so here's the connection and my train of thought when I named Capote 'Capote':

1. Sinatra is named after Frank Sinatra because of his blue eyes. 
2. I want my animals to have names after stars from the 50's and 60's.
3. He needs to have a name that sounds cool as a first name but is a last name. 
4. Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's. Tiffany's + Audrey Hepburn = <3
5. Truman Capote's legal name was Truman Streckfus Persons. In 1933, he moved to New York City to live with his mother and her second husband, Joseph Capote, a *Cuban-born* textile broker, who adopted his stepson and renamed him Truman García Capote. 
6. Capote is a HAVANESE. From Cuba. Capote is a CUBAN name. It tied in with the CUBAN theme. 
7. Capote became Capote.
8. Sheer laziness took over when I got him and he's now been somewhat shortened to 'Pote'

...and so the way Capote was named is complete.


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## Cheryl (Mar 17, 2007)

You mention shortening a name--I wonder how common this is. Brutus' name often gets shortened to Brut. Roxie's name always gets longer: Foxie Roxie, Rockin Roxie, box of Rox, etc.


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## vicw (Jun 15, 2007)

We named our Maggie as a remembrance to a wonderful little Bichon that our daughter rescued from a dumpster in Butbank, CA, years ago. Fortunately, the original little Maggie was still in good health when our daughter found her, and became a happy and loving pet for her, and of course our Havanese Maggie is a priceless treasure to us.


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## Melissa Miller (Aug 2, 2006)

Goldie is Goldielox and was named for her gold ears...and gold spots. 

Stogie was Winston Churchill..who smoked Cigars.. and Stogie looked like a cigar. Black body/brown/carmel ears and silver head. Churchill+Cuba+Cigars=Stogie. hehe. 

The name JUST fits him too. And Goldie's fits hers. 

I like reading the stories.


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## juliav (Nov 21, 2006)

I let my hubby name Bugsy, because he really, really, really didn't want a small dog. As so many hubbies on this forum, he just wasnt a small dog person. I believe his words were: "It's not that I don't like small dogs, I just don't understand them." lol He named Bugsy after Bugsy Segal. He has other call names: Buggy, Bug and Little Bit and funny thing is he know them all.


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## ECudmore (Jun 5, 2007)

I am an avid tennis player and picked the name Racquet or I thought about calling him Blake after one of my favorite players, James Blake. 
Elayne and Racquet


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## ChristineL (Aug 31, 2007)

For my chocolate Hav I chose Kahlua after the drink. We call her "Klue' for short, or "Kluby". My second one, who was a gold brindle, I named Buffy after my fave TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Like Buffy, she's cute, blonde and feisty.


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## vettech (Sep 6, 2006)

My sweet Allison is named after my husbands Allison GT 20 drag boat !! It fits her perfectly since she can RLH !!!!


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## Krimmyk (Dec 7, 2006)

We were going to just call him Smoke, after Tony Stewart. Logan began to call him Sully from the movie Monster Inc. When he gets on my nerves I call him Sullivan, and if he really gets my goat, James P. Sullivan, again just like the movie. And the name just kind of stuck! Names we thought of otherwise: Vegas (where Corey and I wed), Griz (he looks like a bear standing up!).
It fits him well, we won't change his AKC name, after all, that is his past. No need to hide or erase all Karen's hard work!


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## mintchip (Apr 19, 2007)

I think the name Sully is adorable!


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## Laurief (Nov 7, 2006)

I LOVE Sully from Monsters Inc!!! I think it is a great name!!


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## Krimmyk (Dec 7, 2006)

I just love to hear all the neat stories behind the names of all our fur-babies. I think the stories make each dog even cuter!


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## ruthann (Jan 26, 2007)

When I was four, I had a toy long haired doxie named Annabelle. Through the next seventy years, I had Samoyds, Belgium Sheepdogs,German Sheperds Shelties, Cookers, Delmations and many toy and miniture Poodles, a Shih Tzu and a Pomeranian. My Sheltie died two years ago. Barbara Walter's had Cha Cha on the View at the time and I fell in love with the Havanese. I mentioned it to one of my sons and the next day this precious little white furbaby was in my arms. Steve found a breeder two states away who had two puppies and drove there that day and brought her to me. I am Barbara Walters age and know this would more than likely be my last dog so I named her after my first doggie love, Annabelle.


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## elregalohavanese (Jun 20, 2007)

*saint pete?*

The breeder we purchased our male from had called him petey... His name is El Morro so we wanted to add something spanish to go with the kennel name and we decided on San Pedro which is spanish for Saint peter....of course, he is far from a saint...if he can get into it...he will!!! We do call him Pete for short but we really liked the sound of El Morro San Pedro. WE almost changed it to stinky pete because when we picked him up at the airport...he was STINKY!!


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## Doggie Nut (Oct 20, 2006)

I got Valentino close to Valentine's day plus unfortunately for my hubs I am a shoppaholic! Love Valentino....anything in RED! Oooh lala!


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## radar_jones (May 6, 2007)

Radar goes for the clever way that He always knows what's going on. I can never sneak up on him, he always knows I'm there hence the "Radar" Detection Skills.

Derek


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## TnTWalter (May 9, 2007)

When or beagle Quincy was a pup one of our best friends always called him Winston, first on accident, then it became a running joke. DH always liked the name [Nascar fan].

When we got Winston, I basically decided what breed and what dog. So to win DH over :biggrin1: , he was named Winston.

DH likes to call him Furby as a 'pet name'.


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## Amy R. (Jul 1, 2007)

We had a family naming contest before we actually saw him, with all of these Cuban & Spanish names. No one could agree and the emails were flying. When I picked Biscuit up, the breeder remarked that her granddaughter carried our pup around all day, and called him Biscuit. We knew at that moment it was the perfect name for him! His registered name is El Bizcocho (biscuit in Spanish).


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## Lo01 (Jul 22, 2007)

My family went through a number of names as well, being a Cal Berkeley alum we nearly named him "Oski" (the school's mascot); But for some reason his original call name from the breeder - "Hank," just stuck, based on his personality.

Instead of giving him a Cuban name, we opted to pay homage to a "Cuban" movie by having his registered name: "(Yup's) Say Hello To My Little Friend." The family wouldn't let me get away with calling him Tony Montana.










Compromises...

_* 'Lo*_

 BTW Hank is German in origin meaning "ruler of an estate." How apropos.


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## Amy R. (Jul 1, 2007)

You _are_ indeed a Berkeley alum, 'Lo . Cerebral and arcane, in the best sense.


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## The Fussy Puppy Gang (May 21, 2007)

When we first got Pepper I dubbed him "Pepe" after the cartoon skunk Pepe LePeu. Some of you might remember the lovesick skunk. Well, Pepper was black/white like a skunk, always trying to hump our little girl Chi-mix April, and he stank badly from dried pee and poo in his coat. It took two baths and a trip to the groomer before he smelled decent.

After he was cleaned up, it didn't seem fair to keep the stinky name, so we changed it to Pepper. It was close enough to Pepe that he easily answered to it, and the name fits because his rump looks like it was sprinkled with pepper.

Although, since he's changing color I don't know if the name will make sense to outsiders in a year or two. 

Wanda


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## Cosmosmom (Jan 12, 2007)

Everyone thought we named Cosmo after the drink as I did really like them at one time but he is really named from Cosmo the ghost in the T/v show Topper .
Ahnolds was named when we got him from Kimberly even though my grandson Alexander told me I should call him Lucky as he was so lucky to come and live at Me me's house .. 
He always has to go back home but not Ahnold ! I thought that was cute ..


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## havjump (Apr 18, 2007)

Our Cosmo is actually Cosmopolitan Man. My husband is from the US and I'm from Europe.
His AKC name is 'Sunshine's Best of both Worlds', which all ties together.
I would love to see a photo of the other Cosmo, Cosmosmom?


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## Tiff (Jun 17, 2007)

Sunnygirl said:


> Desi: This is the name his prior owners gave him. Their names were Ricky and Lucy, so it's pretty obvious how they came up with the name. We kept that one, too.


My little guy is named Desi too, which is obviously a reference to my favorite Cuban, Desi Arnaz. Also, his AKC name is DawnGlo Midsummer Desire and Desi means "longed for" or "desired" in latin, and I've been longing for this puppy for a long time!


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## JASHavanese (Apr 24, 2007)

Bandit we named before she came here because she has a black face and looked like a Bandit.
Lightning....forgive me, I'm going to go against being pc here and if you don't share my beliefs, that's ok. Anyhow, when I've needed God in my life, he's shown me lightning. Since Bandit was stolen by my husband and those 2 were best buds, I needed a hav all my own, and sure enough, he is. He's a Momma's boy.
Ellie got her name because she had a strong sense of who she is, has spunk, is an in your face kind of girl yet has a lot of class. So her name came from Eleanor Roosevelt.


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## JASHavanese (Apr 24, 2007)

Olliesmom said:


> Jan named Austin "Power" at birth and I flew from CA to Texas to get him....so I tried to connect Power and Texas - Came close to naming him Ranger - for Power Ranger and Texas Ranger then thought of Austin Powers and then it correlated with Austin Texas...so after a vote and his doofy cute little face when we called him Austin - he was christened!!


And you kept the Power in his registered name. You're good at naming dogs! I was looking at the pictures earlier of you meeting Austin and the love is so easy to see. A beautiful woman and beautiful dog....what a team.


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## susaneckert (Sep 7, 2006)

Yoda got his name by his looks I hate naming pets but with Yoda it was just his name to me nothing else came to mind When I seen a pic of him his name he had was white and I took one look and said no way he is a Yoda LOL so it worked out his name is Yoda and my step son name is Luke hahaha


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

Smarty's name came from her being just that "smart". She learned so quickly and I kept saying "You're just a little Smarty". An old uncle of mine sang a song when I was little that was on the radio when he was young, “Smarty, Smarty going to have a party, no one is going to come to Smarty Smarty’s party.” I would think of that song when she was doing something good or bad. No one in the family liked the name. They came up with prissy names because of her walk, but she was so rough and tough those names did not fit. So Smarty stuck and she is registered as “I’ma Smarty Austin”.


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## Atomickittyn (Aug 25, 2007)

It wasn't initially our first choice, but after we got him and observed him, we realized that "Yoyo" was the only suitable name for this bouncy hyper little monkey!


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## JASHavanese (Apr 24, 2007)

Oops, I already answered


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## DAJsMom (Oct 27, 2006)

Dusty's litter was named after Arizona weather. Dust Devil went well with her coloring I guess. She had been Dusty for six months before we met her, and it fit so well, both in looks and personality, we just kept it. It also avoided fights between the kids over what to name the puppy. She hates to go out in our rare Arizona rain. We joke that she's Dusty most of the time, but when it rains she's the devil!


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## Doggie Nut (Oct 20, 2006)

It's been fun reading everyone's name stories! All great names by the way!


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