I caught endless affectionate grief from a friend lastnight, because our dog's real name is "Mr. Hobbs", but - as he put it - "every time you turn around you're calling him something different."

My names for him include: Hobby, Bobbins, Bobbly, Hobby Lobby, Swiss Family Hobinson, Hobinson Crusoe, Hobbynero (think habanero), and many many others... not to mention a variety of "Something McSomething" names that I make up as I go including Muttly McFattbutt, Jigglypuff McButt, Muttly McCrackhead, Bobbly McDealybopper, Jigglydoodle McPuffyhead, etc. I can't list them because they're constantly changing.

... and really, whatever strikes my fancy at the given moment.

So is this really that unusual? My friend's point was, "Why name your dog when you don't call him by his name?" But I do, and he only really answers to one of those names, but when I'm playing around with him I'll call him whatever.

Do you call your pet by its name, or do you have a surplus of other names you use for it?

I've always called my pets variations of their names. I think of it kind of like the affectionate nicknames we sometimes use for our human loves.

Not unusual at all. We have two dogs and a cat and this is the list of names

German Shepard named Liberty - Libby, Skibby, Skibby boo, Boo, Mama, Princess, pumpkin, moose, big girl, Liberty Lou, Skib.

Shepard Lab mix named Mason - Macy, Spacy, dingaling, stupid, cow, Big boy.

Cat named L'Roar - L' Kitty Roar, big big kitty, fritty kitty, kitty boo, fritters

My mom's dog is a lab named Rollee: rolls, biggie bear, biggie, Rollee Deberg, Berg, boon, bongorno.

I do the same thing w/ my dog! His name is Buddy, but my husband and I call him Bubbito, Buabua, peloquin, peluca, etc.

Be Blessed!

My dogs name is Stallion<----hubbie named him, dont know where that came from.

We call him Scooby or nizzle and he comes to all names.

My cat is named Charity but she gets called tons of other things as well. She responds no matter what we call her. She even responds to stupid cat which my hubby calls her when she's been bad.

Yes. Our cat "tantoe" is called baby kitty, she's very tiny.

Our other cat has bad gas when she eats people food.

Her name is Annabelle, but my DH calls her stinky-butt-poopie-head.

My dog, Fred, is a shih tzu. I call him dumb dog, d@mn dog, Sh**head. He doesnt come to anything but the word, "treat".

The dog is beyond stubborn. AND is allergic to people of all things. I have to give him allergy shots.

Anyone with hardwood floors want a shih tzu???

My cats have always had multiple names.

My cat Skip was Skippy, Bunny Cat, Weiner, The Weenst and variations on the theme.

Grace is Gracie, Beautiful, Fatty Cat, Grouchy Cat...

Yep - I think we all do this.

We have 2 dogs:

Diesel our puppy has many many names. D-dog, Tiny D (he's an Austailian cattle dog and HUGE) and shithead to name a few.

Kelsey is our Springer and we call her little girl, Kdog and shitball.

I am ALWAYS making up new names for them. As long as you are paying attention to them they could care less what you call them!

<snort>you guys made me laugh so much!

We have a cat named Patches---aka Schmoopie, Patchie, YOUR cat (when she's bad), Patchie Kitty.

My cocker spaniel, Krissy is called - Boo Boo, Boo, sweetie, pookie, Krissy-mas, and when she's bad Krissy Noelle (her full name- I got her for Christmas in 1993).

My dog Daisy (mixed breed that I rescued from a very irresponsible neighbor) was named "Big Foot" when I discovered her. I didn't know her name so I started calling her "puppy puppy". Now we call her (and she answers to ) Daisy, puppy puppy, puppy, Big Foot and Fat Girl.

I adopted a 10 yr old cat who lived in a shelter for almost 3 years with very little human contact. We've become very bonded, and I'm lucky to have her in my life. Even though her name is Snowie, I call her Precious most of the time. Yes, I sound just like Gollum. It's very embarrassing, but I can't seem to help myself. And with her sad history, she deserves to be someone's precious.

Yep, us too. Min. Schnauzers Sophie: Sophie Marie, Sophie-dophie, chubs, chubby-dubby

And Sophie's big sister, Maggie: Margaret, Margaret-Ann, Maggie-Patag-ie

The worst is when I have a senior moment and call Maggie Sophie or Sophie Maggie. Neither will respond to the other's name! They look at me like they're thinking, "There she goes again. Another brain fart. Just ignore her, she'll figure it out sooner or later. Sigh"

I have a Shih-Tzu that i adopted from a breeder almost two years ago. she's golden colored and her name was princess...well-i thought that was too stupid, so i shortened it and changed it to Cescie....like princess without the prin and a y sound at the end!

why not have different names? it keeps people guessing!

We have 2 kitties:

Azriel:

Razzle, Razzle butt, Gravlor, The Gravinator, Gravel. Recently my fiance started calling her Raslan (like Aslan)

Fuzzbutt:

Fuzzle butt, Fuzzle, Fuzzy chicken, Chicken Butt, Stinky Butt etc. We call her Chicken, because my fiance used to call her things that rhymed (sort of) with Kitten; Chicken, Kitchen, Curtain... Chicken stuck for some reason.

My sister has a cat named Patches (19lb Cat!!); Pooches, Tubby, Tubs, Patchy cat.

Her cat "mamas" is often called "noodle" because you can pretty much do whatever you want to her, and she's a limp noodle.

Everyone in my family who has animals calls them something else, except maybe my dad with his dogs.