Woman Criticized By Her Son’s Teacher For Giving Their Dog A Crude Name

Apr 19, 2023

For many people, owning a pet is like welcoming a new member of the family. Owners tend to treat their pets like they are their world, so making sure that that animal feels welcomed is a big deal. This can start first and foremost by giving the pet an endearing name.

Just like how there are plenty of resources for help with picking out baby names, there are lists available online for pet owners looking for the perfect name for their furry friend. The American Kennel Club released its list of the top 10 girl dog names and the top 10 boy dog names for 2022. Some of these names included Luna, Bella, Daisy, Max, Milo and Cooper.

One woman went to Reddit back in November 2019 to share a story about her aunt and uncle getting a puppy. Prior to adopting the dog, neither of them thought about what name they would want for the animal, so they were open to hearing ideas from other family members. The original poster (OP) said that, eventually, everyone landed on a name that they all loved.

Unfortunately, the name proved to be a bit too complicated for OP’s 20-month-old son, and he ended up pronouncing it incorrectly. When his preschool teacher overheard his dog’s name, the teacher talked to OP’s aunt about how inappropriate it was. While there was certainly a misunderstanding regarding the pup’s name, there’s no denying that it made for a funny story to tell. Read on to learn more about this family and their sweet puppy.

In her Reddit post, OP explained a “hilarious” situation she heard about from her aunt regarding her dog. She explained how the family got together to pick out a name for her aunt and uncle’s new puppy since the couple hadn’t previously thought about dog names prior to adopting him.

After a lot of consideration and throwing a handful of names around, they all landed on the name Tucker. According to the American Kennel Club, Tucker was one of the top 10 names for male dogs in 2022. It’s safe to say that the name Tucker was not only perfect for this puppy but was perfect for many dogs! Some other popular names on the list included Charlie, Buddy and Rocky.

OP explained how much her family seemed to like the name Tucker, and they were all pretty optimistic about how others would feel about the name as well. “Everybody thought it was adorable, and so, what could go wrong with such a nice name?” OP said. “Well, my aunt and uncle happen to have an 20 month old son. A few days after naming the dog, they got some complaints from his preschool teacher.”

Unfortunately, the 20-month-old had a tough time saying the name correctly, leading to some hilarious yet extremely inappropriate confusion and pronunciation. “Turns out, their son couldn't pronounce the ‘t’ sound well enough, and so when he talked about his new puppy, he refered (sic) to him as ‘F***er’ or simply ‘F***,’” OP explained. It’s not hard to see why the teacher was concerned with the name choice for the dog. 

Thankfully, the boy’s preschool teacher was very open-minded and listened to OP’s aunt when she explained the unfortunate confusion. In fact, the teacher found the whole scenario “pretty funny,” according to OP. Together, OP’s aunt and her cousin’s teacher decided to give Tucker a new nickname – Spot. It was perfect, considering the dog is a Dalmatian.

However, the young cousin still struggled with calling the dog by an acceptable name, leading to several more funny but frustrating moments.

“My aunt still has embarassing moments at the dog park (IE My little cousin yelling, ‘Come here you silly F***er!!’ or ‘F***ing Spot’ trying to adress the dog), but normally people have a good laugh once she explains the situation, so 'it's all good' according to her,” OP said.

Much like how many people in OP’s aunt’s life found the situation hilarious, so did several Reddit users. One person simply said, “Whoops.”

Another person commented, “So funny. My son at about that age was asking for a fork, but kept saying f*** at a large football party. Thank goodness they all laughed.”

Another mentioned that they named their dog Stains, and implied that they receive some weird looks from others at the dog park whenever they have to yell for the dog to come back to them.

Other Reddit users even mentioned that the late comedian George Carlin most likely would have found the name mix-up hilarious based on a comedy routine he used to do that involved the name Tucker and its rhyming counterpart.

Who would have thought such an innocent mispronunciation would lead to such hilarity?

What did you think about this story? Do you have any silly names or nicknames for your pet? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your family and friends.