But then, my mother has her own issues; apparently her name (Kathleen) is a Celtic name meaning “Little Darling”. Hmmm, that isn’t way I used to think about her during those regular occasions when she was punishing me for my “not like God” behaviour…!

And that’s fun of baby name meanings – parents make naming decisions based on many, many different reasons, including family traditions, religion, culture, uniqueness and “it just sounds really nice.” But – in Western world – we rarely do any real research into history or real meaning of names. So when poor/lucky child finally finds out meaning of his/her “really nice sounding” name, results can be interesting, ironic, unfortunate or just sometimes hilarious.

You can have a lot of fun thinking up family/friends names, finding out meanings and trying to make a connection between two. For example, my eldest brother Clive is apparently “a cliff dweller”, which is coincidental, since he lives at top of a very long steep hill! Or why not play game with celebrities – consider following:

Badu (as in r n’b singer Erykah Badu): African name meaning “Tenth born child”

Winona (as in actress Winona Ryder): Sioux name meaning “Firstborn daughter”

Aaliyah (the late r n’b singer): Arabic name meaning “High, exalted”

Hilary (as in actresses Duff/Swank): Latin name meaning “Cheerful”

Conduct "play training" where by training tasks are made into fun games and your dog's play drive is used as motivation. There are a lot of really good books available on this type of training.

Intelligent dogs can also be stubborn, so you may have to outwit them! While training your dog, you have to make him want to do what you want him to. You can't make him do stuff unless it is fun. Otherwise you are wasting both your time and his.

Try to make your dog's training so fun that it becomes his or her favorite activity. This will make learning much easier and more enjoyable.

Most dogs love to play! You can make your dog happiest just by spending some time with them, giving your undivided attention each day. Without this, your dog will feel ignored, bored, or think they're in trouble. When this happens they're more likely to chew, tear things up, and not listen to you.

Here are some tried and true tactics you can use to make your dogs listen to you more:

When playing with your puppy, play at his level. If play is encouraged at ground level, this builds your role as dominant, or "top dog", when you are standing and training your puppy. If puppy is allowed to jump up and initiate play, then this can lead to unwanted jumping up as your dog gets older.

From very beginning, make sure your dogs know you are master. This is usually accomplished with simple tasks such as teaching dog to raise it's paw for a handshake; kissing your hand; or rolling over on command to show submission.

There is no need for extreme measures to prove you are boss. Obedience training should be both fun and rewarding for you and your dog.