I was a writer for the St. Petersburg Times from 1987-1993, and one of the first pieces of advice I got (I think I heard it initially from then managing editor Mike Foley) was “get the dog’s name.”
That turned out to be an old journalism saw encouraging writers to get as much detail as possible.
During my tenure at the Times, I don’t remember if I ever got the dog’s name. As the pop music critic, I didn’t have many opportunities (maybe if I interviewed someone at their house and they had a pooch).
Apparently, getting the dog’s name is still part of the modus operandi at the newspaper. In today’s front-page story about a young man, James Kenneth McElroy, who attacked his family in Tampa, Thomas Kaplan writes:
Another neighbor, Bob Torres, 56, never got to meet [the family]. On Tuesday night, Torres and his son had been walking their German shepherd, Jason, when they passed the McElroy family's small, olive-colored ranch house, its lawn in need of a mowing.
That reads kind of silly to me. I really don’t care what the dog’s name is. As an adage, “get the dog’s name” works, but as far as including it in the copy, not so much.
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2008.