h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We got a new dog yesterday, a small-sized golden Labrador, about a year old, with a sweet and lovely personality.

We thought of names on the way home and came up with

Nancy
Sukey
Mimi
Georgia (always on my mind)

and had more or less settled on the last, but when we phoned our eight-year-old grandson he was very clear and unequivocal: the best name for a golden Labrador is Lily.

My next-door neighbour fancies himself an expert on all things doggy. He says you should always use a one-syllable name for dogs.

Like Fido, Pongo, Trusty, Towser . . .

My father used to hunt (without riffle, only with dogs) and there have been always a lot of dogs at home. Their names were, Lucas, Nicolás, Pachuca, chalana,canela... but if the dog was a she-dog my father always called her Lista (clever)
I love dogs, but can´t keep them now... when I become a rich...and have a bigger house.

Pachuca I like.

Rover, Rusty, Lady, Buster . . .

Pachuca is the name of a basketball player from an East European country, not sure which one. My elder brother heard it from tv and he used to name the dog ( a she-dog)

How many grand-sons/daughters have you got? Are they musical like you?

Dogs are the best toy for any child. I can tell you, We didn´t have toys, only animals: dogs, billy-goats, rabbits, a donkey... but dogs were fantastic. They have a special behaviour with children quite different to the one they have with adults. Dogs are REALLY patient, they can suffer childrens´ mischieves

That's true; they prefer rough handling by a child to genteel neglect.

My grandsons are eight and seven, and both play music -- cello and piano.

Lassie . . . Pluto . . . Bonzo . . . Blackie . . .

His greatest mistake, he said, was calling his first dog "Bilbo". As a result he could never get him to do anything. After that, the dogs all had names like "Bill" and "Ted".

Sounds like an excellent adventure.

Labradors are the best kind of dog. They are what I'd call REAL dogs, but that may be because I grew up with them. We had one golden one called Sally (I didn't choose the name, I was only a tot at the time) and a black one called Cheek.

Cheek once caused an enormous stir by attacking a swarm of bees and her face was really badly swollen.

I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with your new family addition.

Thanks TC! She reminds us of our second dog, Tosca (our first was Dido). Tosca was similarly bright, neat, and cheery, but she had longer fur. She could run rings around the other dogs in the park.

Your dog names remind me of a woman I met many years ago who had a dog called Puccini, or Pooch for short.

It began with Dido; her mother was Isolde so we continued the operatic theme. Puccini is nice

Gromit, Boweller, Timmy, Trusty . . .

I believe you! It's the man next door you have to convince.

It's always the way, isn't it? Same about climate change.

Yes. 'The CO2 emissions from this pipe have an insignificant effect on the world's climate. Where're me slippers?'