(I am a very beginner in Irish.) I wonder if there are grammatical differences in naming or addressing animals, for example calling you your dog, or cat. And how would I say my dog's name, 'Snowy' in Irish? Sneachta is snow, but in this case, Snowy as a name is not an adjective, like a snowy road, it's a diminutive, or affectionate form of the word. Sneachteen maybe? Go raibh maith agaibh!

There's - sneachtúil - and calógach (but that also means flakey, which might be embarrassing)

You might be able to get away with "Sneachtán"...I'm not sure. "Sneachtúil," which franc gave you, is the adjective "snowy."

I might take a different tack and go with the reason the dog was named "Snowy." Is he white, perhaps? Then maybe something like "Báinín" would make more sense to an Irish speaker.

Or you could just leave it as "Snowy." Names (human or animal) aren't typically changed when you're speaking another language (for example, if your given name were "Jane," an Irish speaker typically wouldn't change it to "Sinéad" unless you specifically requested that he do so).

In any case, when speaking to the dog, you'd use the vocative case, just as you would when addressing a human. If you're leaving the name in English, you'd just put the vocative particle "a" in front of it when writing (in speech the vocative particle often isn't articulated). If you're changing it to something in Irish, you'd lenite the first consonant, if possible, and for a masculine name, slenderize the final consonant. So "Sneachtán" (assuming that's workable...I'd like others to weigh in on it) would be addressed as "A Shneachtáin."

Redwolf

Would SN be lenited? (I can't think of any name beginning with SN). It would definitely be a mouthful. I'd go with Báinín.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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Yep. The only "s" combinations that aren't lenited are sc, sm, sp, and st ("scallions smell spicy in stew" is the mnemonic I learned fadó).

"Báinín" sounds much more natural to my ear too.

Redwolf

But there are plenty of other examples of SN being lenited, for example: “Seo chugaibh Mary Chinnidh, ’s í i ndiaidh an Éirne a shnámh.”

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Yep. That's the one I always remember. But that's a Donegal song.

Redwolf