Top Pup Names Revealed, Dogs’ Voice Recognition Skills, Wagging to the Samba Beat, and More!

The most popular pet names of 2024 have finally been tabulated! photo: AdobeStock

What's in a Name?
Top Pet Monikers Revealed 

Let's start 2025 with a quick look back. Yes, the most popular pet names of 2024 have finally been tabulated, and first place honors in the canine division go to...drum roll, please...Charlie for male pups and Luna for females.

In ranked order, the rest of the Top 10 names for male dogs were Max, Milo, Cooper, Buddy, Teddy, Rocky, Bear, Leo, and Duke. For female pups, they were Bella, Daisy, Lucy, Lily, Lola, Zoe, Sadie, Coco, and Bailey.

Meanwhile, on the feline side of the ledger, Luna was also the top name for female cats, while owners of male cats went with Milo for their #1 choice (not that you probably care what those cat people did).

This year's list comes to us from the folks at Rover, who analyzed millions of names in their pet-sitting database to arrive at the Top 10 rankings. They were also able to identify names on the way up, such as Dune-themed handles like Gurney, Atreides, and Chani, which took off last year in a nod to the popular sci-fi novel turned movie.

But by far the biggest rising star of 2024 was Bluey, the Aussie cartoon dog whose fame with the pre-K set made it last year's top-trending name for both dogs and cats. Can Bluey's little sister Bingo be far behind? Stay tuned for next year's name game.

Source: apple.news

Researchers in Hungary designed an experiment to investigate whether dogs can recognize their owners based on pre-recorded speech.  photo: AdobeStock

Say What?
New Evidence for Dogs’ Voice Recognition Skills

Scientists and dog lovers everywhere already knew that dogs are sensitive to certain acoustic cues in the human voice (see: what a good boy!!). But now a new study by Hungarian researchers offers the first evidence for voice-based individual-level recognition in dogs.

In plain language, this means the dogs in that study were able to recognize their owners' voices when researchers played them recordings of their owners speaking (prior to this, only rhesus macaques and horses were known to have that ability). Participating dogs could even distinguish and correctly identify the recorded voices of three different individuals within their own human families.

So if you're away from home and want to give your favorite pups a jingle, go ahead. As long as they can find someone to hold the phone for them, they should be happy to hear from you.

Source: phys.org

Wagging to the Samba Beat:
Meet Brazil's Newest Icon

When you picture Brazil, what do you see? Soccer? Samba? That big honking Jesus looming over Rio's harbor?

Now our neighbors to the south have a new icon. Meet the Viralata Caramelo, Brazil's ubiquitous street dog whose name literally translates to caramel trashcan-tipper.

Savvy and street-wise, these medium-sized, tan pups have scrounged for decades in cities and towns all across South America's biggest nation. But thanks to an internet craze started in 2019, caramelos are now poised for wider fame, with an upcoming Netflix film, Carnival Parade, and draft legislation on tap to honor them as an integral part of Brazilian culture. There's even a petition for them to replace the macaw on the country's 200-reais bill.

Tina Castro, an English teacher in Rio de Janeiro, sums up the caramelo's appeal this way. "It comes from a marginal place like Brazil. It has a history of survival and marginalization. We value the Caramelo in the way we value our country," she says. "As it is."

Sadly, the Caramelo's growing cachet has yet to produce homes for many of these abandoned pups, and local shelter volunteers say they still get passed over for smaller, fluffier, lighter colored dogs. Will that change once they're Netflix stars? We can only hope.

Source: apnews.com

Researchers found there was also "a minority we discovered who did understand the rules, but chose not to use” a leash. In other words, jerks. photo: AdobeStock

Don't Be a Wanker:
Bad Humans Lead Good Dogs Astray

Finally, science confirms what we've all observed: well-meaning dogs being led astray by owners who think the rules don't apply to them.

Specifically, a recent University of Adelaide study looked at the issue of dog owners ignoring the leash requirement in a nature preserve intended to protect wildlife. This being Australia, the wildlife in question was the endangered southern brown bandicoot, a tiny short-nosed marsupial that any red-blooded canine would love to chase given the chance.

While most humans did the right thing and kept their dog pals leashed in the park, not all understood or were aware of the leash rule. But researchers found there was also "a minority we discovered who did understand the rules, but chose not to use a lead." In other words, jerks - or as the Aussies would say, wankers.

The study was prompted by requests from nearby residents concerned about the impact unleashed dogs were having on the preserve's dwindling bandicoot population. "As the apex predator wherever native carnivore communities are extinct, domestic dogs are among the greatest threats to native prey species worldwide," said lead researcher Dr. Jasmin Packer. "They are a direct threat, through predation and predation stress, but can also indirectly threaten species by destroying habitat."

Dr. Packer believes that policy makers can improve compliance by communicating positive messages to strengthen social norms, using phrases like "Wildlife Ambassador" or "I keep my dog on a lead to protect us all."

Or maybe just "Don't Be a Wanker."

Source: sciencedaily.com

Not surprisingly, some of the most common buttons pushed by participating pups were "outside," "treat," "play," and "potty." photo: AdobeStock

Out? Treat? Walk?
Use Your Words, Fluffy

New research from UC San Diego's Comparative Cognition Lab shows that some dogs trained to use soundboards to "talk" are now able to put together two-word combinations, supporting the idea that they are deliberately communicating.

"The findings reveal that dogs are pressing buttons to purposefully express their desires and needs, not just imitating their owners," says lead researcher Federico Rossano. "When dogs combine two buttons, these sequences are not random but instead seem to reflect specific requests."

Not surprisingly, some of the most common buttons pushed by participating pups were "outside," "treat," "play," and "potty." But combinations like "outside + play" and "food + water" were used in meaningful ways and occurred more frequently than would be expected by chance. The study used advanced statistical methods, including computer simulations, to determine whether the button combinations were random, imitative, or intentional.

Future studies are already being planned to explore whether dogs can use the soundboard buttons to refer to past or future events or if they can combine buttons to communicate concepts for which they lack specific words. Hard to imagine what those might be, but you never know. Maybe the canine mind is more nuanced than we think.

See Erika Slovikoski’s article in Bay Woof on the topic from the February 2023 issue.

Source: sciencedaily.com