My partner and I can't agree on our pet dog's name. What should we do?
Get rid of him or put him down. Kidding! And I was talking about the partner, not the dog. Double kidding. Well, maybe.
I think couples go through something similar with a baby. They’ll make a list of boy names, girl names and then off-the-wall names in the event they want to parent like a Kardashian. Something I haven’t heard people do is come up with a list of potential pet names. You could argue that parents do it for babies because the names happen before the baby arrives and then they see which name is a perfect fit when they actually meet the kid. (“He looks like a James.” I’ve never understood that, but whatevs.)
You’re in a weird situation because you have the dog already (I presume) and now it’s a matter of feeling the pressure to give him a name right now, now, now. That’s not necessarily the case. One of my friends had a dog for two months before deciding on the name. It wasn’t until the dog was comfortable in the home and started to show his personality that the name came about. There’s no rule that says you have to name the dog on day 1.
If the disagreement is that you want one name and your partner wants another, that’s one issue. If it’s that you’re completely against your partner’s pick, then that’s something else. You could always “ask the audience” on social media and seek help in coming up with a name. You could post your two name picks and see which gets the most votes and go with that – on the understanding that you both agree to the results and there’s no going back. Or you could just post the dog’s pic and say, “He needs a name. What do you all think?” You never know, you might get some better choices from crowd-sourcing it.