Dragon Inspired Dog Names

There are many historically and culturally significant Dragons in Chinese lore (and many more historically and culturally significant serpents in Asian lore as well as Chinese lore) but there are none quite like our spotlight dog for this article: Panhu. You see, Panhu is unique because he's one of the few dragon-dog hybrids of great significance in Chinese culture. Panhu is in fact so prominent that many Chinese clans have depicted him differently in order to better represent themselves in his appearance; some Chinese clans have depicted Panhu as mostly humanoid man with the head of a dog and dragon scales decorating his body. Others have depicted Panhu as having the body of a dog and the head of a dragon, while others have depicted him as having the opposite appearance (the body of a dragon and the head of a dog.) Lastly, Panhu has also been portrayed as looking like a dog with scales instead of fur (making him look like an extra large Pangolin to a certain degree.) While Panhu may not be as famous as certain other Chinese deities and Mythological figures, his visage is still evoked as a means to ward off dark spirits and partition the Gods for blessings.

Concerning his role in Chinese Mythology, Panhu has quite an interesting story; centuries ago in Ancient China, a King by the name of Gao Xin became crestfallen when he learned that his wife was suffering from a seemingly incurable earache. For three years, Gao Xin tried and failed to find a remedy for his wife's ailment until he was able to enlist the aid of a very old, and very wise, wizard. After contemplating the scenario for some time, the wizard used his magic to reach into the Queen's ear and pull out a golden egg like cocoon. 

Mystified by the strange object, the Queen decided to place the egg inside of a clay jar and cover it with a plate. After enough time had passed, the egg like cocoon began to tremble and shake until finally, it burst open! A strange creature pawed its way out of the cocoon and immediately tried to free itself from the clay jar. When the Queen worked up enough courage to remove the plate from the top of the jar, she was delighted to find an adorable puppy with serpentine features inside! The Queen named the puppy Pan (after the plate placed above the jar) Hu (after the clay jar he was born in) and the dog soon became a darling to everyone in the kingdom.