While there are no actual dogs in the Blue Dog Coalition, the group explains its unique name this way: "Taken from the South's longtime description of a party loyalist as one who would vote for a yellow dog if it were on the ballot as a Democrat, the 'Blue Dog' moniker was taken by members of The Coalition because their moderate-to-conservative-views had been 'choked blue' by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election."