Woman who named her dog 'Covid' called out for insensitivity

Naming a new pet can be difficult. Some go for the classics such as “Lassie” or "Rover", but some go for names that describe their pup’s personality, such as “Lucky”. Others go for slightly more, er, unique names…

One such woman took to Reddit to tell of how her dog’s name has raised eyebrows.

She revealed that she named her dog “Covid”. As it’s a virus that has caused over six million deaths worldwide, naturally some have called her out on her choice of name for her companion.

She wrote: “We found a stray puppy during the start of our lockdown. It started by feeding him scraps in the back garden where we were spending so much of our time.

"Now he's moved in and is probably going to stay unless someone comes forward to claim him. We put a notice up in some village shops about him.

"We called him Covid because that's why we found him - spending all our time at home."

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

But strangers have confronted her when she has called on her dog in public.

She said: “We have now started taking him out for walks - which he loves. But yesterday a couple heard us calling his name while playing by the beach.”

"They came over and told us that it's insensitive as they lost an uncle to the virus. They said how would we feel if they called their pet cancer or death?"

The woman asked if the name is “offensive” or if the couple “overreacted”.

One commenter said: “I mean, use practically any other example and it looks really bad really fast. Would you name a dog AIDS and go running around in public yelling 'Here AIDS! Come here boy, that's a good AIDS!'!

They continued: "I mean if nothing else, running around on the beach shouting 'COVID! COVID!' could be construed as yelling fire in a crowded theatre - just not smart any way you slice it."

Another said it’s a “stupid name”, and said they have “no clue why you would name a pet after a virus that has killed thousands of people.”

They added: “Just give the dog a normal name so you don't have to worry about shouting Covid for the next 10 to 15 years or whatever".

Another commenter said they named their kitten “Corona”, but they call him RowRow.

What do you think?

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.