I recall in an old interview (from the 70s), Eric Clapton said that his dog's name was “Jeep.” I have remembered this all these decades because it seemed like such an odd name to me.
But now I am reading Dr. Dolittle, and find that his dog was named “Jip.”
I assume that "Jip" and "Jeep" may be pronounced the same way and, in fact, the interviewer may have spelled the name of Clapton's dog "Jeep" when the proper spelling of the pet pooch was actually "Jip."
If so, then Hugh Lofting's book (Dr. Dolittle) may indeed be where Clapton got the name.
Does anybody know "the rest of the story"?