Spotty Johnson

Last week, mum was telling me how, when she was a girl, all the local dogs were referred to by their name plus the surname of their owners. In her neighbourhood, there were:

  • Towser Green
  • Bob Dorricot
  • Raff Jones
  • Spotty Johnson

(Yes, that's right: people really did used to name their dogs Towser.)

It seems to me that giving dogs surnames acknowledges that, unlike cats, they are an integral part of the family. I'm all for it.

So what's your dog called?

Postscript: Actually, Spotty Johnson would be a damn fine name for a band (Fitz please note).

Richard Carter

A fat, bearded chap with a Charles Darwin fixation.

4 comments

  1. We have two cats. The first was given the name Miffy (don't ask). When we took ownership of the second my wife wanted to name it Ginger (something to do with it's colouring). I refused the name on the grounds that I wasn't going to stand at the back door calling both of them in! So instead we called it Jasper after Tom of Tom and Jerry fame.

  2. and there I was thinking that you would have had a dog called Orson.......

  3. I always said that, in the unlikely event of my having a son, I would call him Orson. But then (true story), on an archaeological dig in Shetland in 1985, I met a very nice Norwegian named Magnar, and I decided Magnar Carter would sound even better.

  4. Nite Owl (on days for the forseeable future, despite complaining bitterly to the management) says:

    Aha! aname for Fitz' band...'Wayne Kerr & the Hand Jobs!

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