Dog Log: Painted Dog Puppy Names Revealed – Drum roll please………!

And the names of the painted dog puppies are Riddler, Bruce, Alfred, Hugo, Luke and Oswald for our six boys. Lucy, Quinn, Selina and Ivy are the four little ladies. If you didn’t catch the theme here, it’s Batman (don’t worry, I wasn’t that familiar with it either). Some are characters from the show, a couple from the comics, some from the motion pictures and others from the animated series. It all started when the one puppy we could distinguish from all of the others had an upside down white question mark on his back. This one clearly had to be called Riddler. The rest just followed.

However, there are two that are a bit more obscure and don’t fit the more well known character names. Luke and Lucy. They are indeed in the Batman realm, but it is not a coincidence that they have a deeper meaning to me. I have been working with African painted dogs for almost a decade. That is also how long I have been waiting to have a litter survive. Since painted dog puppies basically have a 50/50 shot of surviving, that all ten have thrived thus far and are doing great is a miracle! It has always been my hope to someday be able to pass on the names of the first pair I ever worked with. The first painted dogs that made me realize that this was going to be my life’s passion and to be involved in the bigger picture of their survival, both in captivity and in the wild.

As a zookeeper, we love all animals, but there are those that touch our hearts in ways that affect us deeply. Luke and Lucy were those animals for me. It is my hope that the ‘new’ Luke and Lucy (with their matching white spotted rumps), along with their siblings, inspire others to realize what special creatures painted dogs really are. This summer, you all will get the chance to see this for yourselves once they are on exhibit. Can’t wait to see you there!