Most Popular Pet Names of 2013

Rocco's name did not make the Top 10
 list but Rocky did

Banfield Pet Hospital has released  the top pet names of 2013, pulled from its database of nearly 2.5 million pets nationwide.

As the records revealed, pet owners looked high and low to find inspiration for their pets' names in 2013, including some of the year's hottest films, celebrity news and pop culture, while other pet names seemed to have an origin uniquely all their own.

Pet Owners Think Inside the Box Office

As the newest film release in the popular series, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," broke box office records over the Thanksgiving weekend, the film was also racking up points with pet owners. Banfield Pet Hospital observed five times as many cats named after the film's heroine, "Katniss" over 2012. 

Others chose to jazz things up a bit, naming their pets after the hit remake of the twenties classic, "The Great Gatsby." Banfield saw twice as many dogs and cats named "Gatsby" in 2013 versus 2012, including nifty adaptations such as "The Great Fatsby."

"The Twilight Saga" certainly left its lasting impression on pet owners with "Bella" holding its rank as the most popular name for dogs, and second most popular for cats in 2013.

What's Trending in "Pup" Culture?

No doubt pet owners were keeping an eye on the tabloids this year, as Banfield Pet Hospital saw twice as many dogs named "North" or "North West" compared to 2012, after Kim Karsdashian and Kayne West welcomed 2013's celebrity baby of the year.

Other pop culture personalities who made a big bang in the pet world in 2013 include "Sheldon," "Penny" and "Leonard" from CBS's award-winning TV series, "The Big Bang Theory."

Strangest Pet Names of 2013

While the origin of some pet names is easy to identify, there are others that never cease to amaze, securing their spot on Banfield's list of the strangest pet names of 2013. The following is a list of the strangest pet names to have pranced into a Banfield Pet Hospital in 2013.

1.  Leonardo Da Poochie  Captain Huggy Pants	6. Captain Huggy Pants
2.  Luke Grasswalker	7. Pouncer Von Thunderpaws
3.  Darth Baine Von Chicken Nugget	8. Mr. Montgomery Mittens
4.  Chubs Carpoochi	9. Binx, "The Great Fatsby"
5.  Smashy Von Chickensnacks	10. Tobethius Mcsnugglepants

Top 10 Pet Names of 2013

As uniquely inspired as the peculiar and pup culture pet names may be, only "Bella" was trendy enough to top the 10 list, ranking high for both dogs and cats.

In fact, Banfield Pet Hospital's top 10 pet names of 2013 are considerably tamer than those influenced by the year's biggest blockbusters and certainly less wild than those on the strangest list. The following is a list of the top 10 pet names of 2013 based on 2.5 million Banfield Pet Hospital clients.

Dogs	Cats
1.  Bella	1. Kitty
2.  Max	2. Bella
3.  Buddy	3. Tiger
4.  Daisy	4. Max
5.  Coco	5. Shadow
6.  Lucy	6. Smokey
7.  Bailey	7. Tigger
8.  Charlie	8. Lucy
9.  Molly	9. Chloe
10. Rocky	10. Charlie

Did your pet's name make the list?

Our Workout with Dolvett and a Wellness Giveaway from Banfield!

All of us with small dogs were on the near side of this photo while the
larger dogs were on the far side.  For this drill, the small dog folks held
their dogs (like a weight) while doing squats! That's me (in the
turquoise shirt and black shorts) in the middle with Rocco.

Last week we wrote about how we planned to attend a workout with Dolvett Quince, from the Biggest Loser, and Banfield Pet Hospital. The two teamed together to help get people and their pets more healthy, active and fit.

Today, we're going to tell you all about our experience AND we have a great giveaway to help keep your pet healthy from Banfield! Read all the way down to learn more about the Optimum Wellness Plan from Banfield and how you can enter to win one! 

First, Dolvett is a super nice guy and he posed for photos with everyone attending the workout. Then, he jumped right into our workout, and his inspirational style got everyone moving in ways they didn't know they could!

We started with stutter steps in place with our dogs by our sides, and then moved on to squats and a modified burpee type of drill. 

You get a good view of Rocco's hindquarters here! 

This, above, is where used our dogs as weights as we did squats! Rocco is the perfect dumbell shape! The large dogs got to watch during this part, while their owners did all the work. But the idea is, if you are at home with more space, you can play fetch with your dog at the same time you are doing your exercises.

Then, we all got on the ground and did a modified burpee type drill where from this plank position you bring your feet to your hands and then jump back up.

Dolvett got the dogs moving as we finished by running around the workout area.

Rocco needed a little more space to get his "wheeee!" on so that's us trotting around the inside!

The workout was short, but enough to inspire everyone to go home and keep moving! Here are some more exercise ideas from Dolvett and Banfield that will help keep you and your pet more active.

And, you can read more about the program at Banfield.com/fitness.

After the workout ended, Rocco found a nice, new friend to play fetch with! He still had plenty of "wheeeee!" left in him!

Win an Optimum Wellness Plan from Banfield!

Dolvett and Rocco! Fit pals for life!

At the event, we also chatted with several of the veterinarians from our local Banfield Pet Hospitals. And we were impressed with their dedication and enthusiasm for encouraging pet wellness and fitness programs.

So we were super excited when the folks at Banfield offered us a one-year Optimum Wellness Plan from Banfield to give away to one lucky To Dog With Love reader! That's a year of free preventive veterinary care from Banfield, which includes things like office visits, vaccines and physical exams. 

Regular check-ups are so important to make sure your pet is healthy and able to start any kind of fitness regime, so we think this is an amazing prize!

Enter via Rafflecopter below for a chance to win a one-year Optimum Wellness Plan from Banfield Pet Hospital. And then head on over to the FitDog Friday Blog Hop to see what everyone else has been up to!

Good Luck!

Disclaimer: Banfield provided the Optimum Wellness Plan for our giveaway. All opinions expressed herein are entirely our own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Petties voting is open! Please vote To Dog With Love in the Best Overall Blog category daily until July 31! 

The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With Love, SlimDoggy and Peggy's Pet Place to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!) and to help combat pet obesity. Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.

Workout for Pets and People the Biggest Loser Way!

Celebrity trainer Dolvett Quince puts a pet owner and pup
through their paces at a recent event in Los Angeles

We're super excited about a very special event we're planning to attend tomorrow!

Banfield Pet Hospital and celebrity trainer Dolvett Quince from NBC's "The Biggest Loser" are hosting a fitness class for dogs and their owners Saturday, July 20, in Atlanta and Rocco and I will be there! 

Even though I do a lot of activities with Rocco, I think he winds up getting lots more exercise than I do. So I'm really looking forward to learning how I can step up my fitness program too.

Together, Banfield and Quince developed an exercise program that pet owners and their pets can do together to become active, healthy and fit.

According to Banfield's State of Pet Health 2012 Report, chronic conditions such as overweight and obesity in pets have increased at an alarming rate since 2007. Since that time, overweight and obesity have increased by 37 percent in dogs and 90 percent in cats, affecting approximately 1 in 5 pets.

Leading a healthy lifestyle is just as important for our pets as it is for humans," says Quince, "which is why I created a program that pet owners can do with their furry friends to become more active and shed unhealthy weight!"

Rocco's ready to run!

Quince's workout plan goes beyond just walking and running with pets. In fact, one of his exercises sounds a lot like a backyard game I made up for Rocco to help him get his zoomies on and prepare for agility games!  I based it on the wind sprints we used to do during high school basketball practice.

Quince calls this exercise "Shuttle Runs."

After picking three line markers that dogs and owners will run toward, Quince recommends that pet owners stand to one side and run these with the dog and create a fun "chase game." Participants can start by running to the first point, and run back to start; next run to the halfway mark and back to start; and last, run to the farthest point and back.

This can be repeated for a total of three to five sets. As both the dog and owner build stamina, additional sets may be added.

You can find more of Quince's pet workout tips on Banfield.com/fitness as well as details about the public fitness classes for pets and pet owners this July. In addition to the class Quince will lead in Atlanta tomorrow, he's  leading one more in Minneapolis on Saturday, July 27.

We'll let you know next week how our workout goes with Quince!


Petties voting is open! Please vote To Dog With Love in the Best Overall Blog category daily until July 31! 

The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With Love, SlimDoggy and Peggy's Pet Place to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!) and to help combat pet obesity. Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.