Naming your
Golden Retriever Puppy

by Rory Roemmich
(San Diego, CA USA)

When I got divorced I gave my male Golden to my ex as I didn't know what was going to happen to the house or where I would go.

I waited a year and when things settled out, I started looking at getting another Golden Retriever.

I wanted to be settled mentally before I got another one so I could give that dog all my love.

I was torn between getting a puppy or a rescue Golden. I finally decided on a puppy and purchased a female Golden from a breeder in San Diego.

My new puppy came from a litter of 10 pups. The mother and father were on site. There were 5 pups left when I went out to make my choice.

All five of them looked the same, so as I stood there viewing, I finally just picked one up, made sure it was a female and we went into the house to take care of the paperwork. As we sat at the kitchen table, my new friend just sat on my lap and never made a noise, very quiet.

When we completed business, my new dog and I got in the truck for the ride home. She laid down next to me on the seat and put her head on my right thigh. She has been stuck there ever since.

To pick a name for her, I thought maybe April (she was born on April Fools Day of '09). A friend of mine didn't like that name as fitting the dog and suggested Annie. So I have an Annie. Here is Annie's name story .......

Now next door is a young family with two boys, one 5 and one 3 1/2 at the time. We are great friends, so what I did was have the kids come over to help me name the dog.

I put 12 pieces of small folded papers in a hat. All the pieces of paper had a name for my new dog on it. I told the boys that if they could pull out the same name from the hat, that is what we would name the puppy.


Now, just because all the pieces of paper had the same name on them (Annie), please don't hold that against me.

So they each reached into the hat and picked a piece of paper. Guess what? They picked the same name (go figure), so I have an Annie Golden Retriever.

Annie turned 2 this past April Fools day and the two boys next door love her. They have two Yellow Labs. Sometimes they stand by the back fence and yell for Annie to come out.

The last 15 feet of fence is half height so Annie can get up on a bench and put her paws on the top of the fence and the kids can pet her.

Annie has turned out to be the best dog I have ever had. More stories, but for later. House breaking was fun, but got a great tip from next door that has worked really well. Will share that later.

Annie is in great health, can run like the wind, swims underwater, and weighs a firm 65 lbs. She is of the field variety, very athletic looking with a very soft coat and super disposition.

Take care, see ya on the flip side.


Nancy's Note -- What a wonderful story, Rory! Your Annie sounds like a lovely gal, and super friend. Great way to help the kids name her! Thanks so much for sharing Annie with us. Please feel free to share more stories any time you'd like. We'd love to hear your house breaking tip, too (on the Training page). Thanks!