Top Ten Tuesday : (Wo)Man’s Best Friend
17 November 2020
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Fictional Dogs, That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic :
Characters I’d Name a Pet After
I’ve gone for a similar or related theme – dogs in books – and of course you could use their names for your own pets.
Bulls Eye – from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Bulls Eye is a great name for a dog isn’t it? I couldn’t resist the cover below with all the little snapshots – if you take a good look you can find Bulls Eye:
A very recent read – the Diabolical Bones by Bella Ellis. I really enjoyed this charming murder mystery where the Bronte sisters solve local crimes. Emily is often accompanied by her huge Bull Mastiff – Keeper. I loved Keeper, he’s so full of energy and sticks to Emily faithfully. He’s a keeper.
Toto from L Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz – the list simply wouldn’t be complete without Toto, he has to be one of the most famous fictional dogs.
Oberon – an Irish Wolf Hound from Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles. This is a really great, fun series that I need to catch up with and Oberon is just brilliant, even more so because he can communicate with Atticus which makes for some very fun dialogue between the two – usually relating to sausages.
Jess and Jip – the two terriers from the excellent A Boy and His Dog At the End of the World. I highly recommend this book – it’s just excellent.
My next is a little out of left field. Sam Merlotte from Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse. Sam is a shape shifter but he prefers to take the shape of a mild mannered Collie – which is obviously Sam.
The Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Rex is a bioengineered bioform – in fact to give you the full idea here’s the description from GRs:
‘Rex is a genetically engineered Bioform, a deadly weapon in a dirty war. He has the intelligence to carry out his orders and feedback implants to reward him when he does. All he wants to be is a Good Dog. And to do that he must do exactly what Master says and Master says he’s got to kill a lot of enemies.’:
White Fang is part wolf part dog and plays the titular role in Jack London’s story of a wild dog and it’s transition to a domestic animal.
My final entry is three dogs from the Harry Potter series. Padfoot is Sirius Black’s shifted form. Fluffy, is the ill-named three headed dog that can be lulled to sleep by music and finally Fang is Hagrid’s huge dopey bloodhound
The final slot I’ll leave blank for you to tell me your own favourite fictional dog.
So many great names! I love Bulls Eye and Toto the most. Have a great reading week!❤️
Here’s a link to MY POST in case you’re interested.
Ah, Rex! ((sniffle))
And White Fang brings me back to my childhood and to the memory of how much I loved that character… 🙂
Did you see that there is a second book in the Dogs of War series over on NG??
Great list!
My post!
Thanks 😀
I always thought Fluffy was really funny for the 3 headed dog. I like Keeper! But that’s not going to work in Afrikaans. Keeper translates as ‘houer’ in Afrikaans. Doesn’t sound so good.
Lovely post Lynn! Here’s my TTT: I was named after
Fluffy is indeed funny for a guard dog. It’s so comical the way different words translate isn’t it.
Lynn 😀
I like how you did this week’s prompt. And Sam totally counts.
Thanks 😀
I definitely like your take on the theme more, after all there are quite a few memorable pets in books!
Yes, there really are. I could have gone for different sorts of pets which might have been even more fun.
Lynn 😀
I like that cover for Oliver Twist, very detailed.
The Sookie Stackhouse series is one I’ve been tempted by a couple of times but haven’t started yet.
I did enjoy the Sookie series – although, in fairness, it probably went on a little longer than was truly necessary and I wasn’t totally enamoured with the ending. Still a whole lot of fun though.
Lynn 😀
I need to get my hands on the Ellis series now because I need to meet Keeper. You knew I’d love your topic this week right? One of my favorite dogs is Enzo and I’ve always loved Sam from the Sookie series. I mean, a boyfriend that can turn into a dog – that’s one thing Mr. Barb just can’t do!
Haha – I actually did think of you when I was putting this together. What I loved about the Diabolical Bones was the attention to little details, like Emily Bronte did have a Mastiff called Keepter. Love that.
Lynn 😀
Love that you included Sam from the Sookie Stackhouse books haha. 🙂
Haha – went a little crazy with that one – but, hey, dog, right?
Lynn 😀
I mean technically haha. 😉
I like your slight twist on this theme, Lynn. You have some iconic and lesser known literary dogs here. Kudos for all three of the Harry Potter dogs – Now I am thinking Padfoot would make a good cat name, too! 😍
Padfoot would be a great cat name.
Lynn 😀
😻