When a band chooses a name, it is done carefully to avoid stupid questions. Local band the Prairie Dogs, formerly known as Dorian Gray and Mr. Id, still can’t get away from those dreaded queries.

Who is Dorian Gray? Is it Mr. Id or Mr. Ed? What the hell is a Prairie Dog?

Three years ago, the core of the Prairie Dogs was formed by guitarist Mike Belshan, bassist Aaron Cook and singer John Stickney.

A couple of years and drummers later, the Prairie Dogs’ sound took shape, driven by newly-found drummer Jeff Kodis.

“A while back I was talking to one of our old drummers, and he said that [Kodis] doesn’t look like a drummer, and I said ‘He’s not. He’s a musician,'” Stickney said.

With the quartet finalized, a new focus overtook the band, and it began setting some goals.

“We evaluated what the group wanted to do, which was get more of an acoustic rock sound — play more originals, and do it in front of people,” Stickney said.

The Prairie Dogs offer a sound similar to fellow local band The Nadas, but with a more rocking drive behind the music.

Along with a long list of original songs, the Dogs cover a huge variety of other artists’ music. The Barenaked Ladies, Big Head Todd, the BoDeans, Jimi Hendrix, Freddy Jones Band and Neil Young can all be heard blasting through the speakers at a Prairie Dogs show.

The band is even known to do a Jimmy Buffet or Suzanne Vega tune from time to time.

Unlike the recent trend of bands that take obscure covers and play them as differently as possible, the Prairie Dogs have stayed headed in the traditional direction.

“We try to cover them faithfully,” Stickney said. “We just try to do our best.”

When choosing which covers to play, the band mostly picks bands that are recent influences on them.

“If we covered what we heard when we were growing up, we’d be playing AC/DC songs,” Stickney joked. “Someone will bring it to the table, and if we all have a consensus on the song, we will play it. The covers we play tend to influence our [original songwriting] as well.”

For a band like the Prairie Dogs, deciding between playing covers and originals can sometimes be difficult.

“It’s pretty [hard] even for me,” Stickney said. “It seems that songwriters like to play their originals better than the covers.”

Members of the Prairie Dogs all having Midwestern roots, hailing from Chicago, South Dakota and Iowa.

And the band typically stays in the vicinity for shows in destinations such as Minneapolis, Omaha, Vermilion, Iowa City and other surrounding cities.

“Ames has a really good scene for us to play,” Stickney said. “We play with this band in South Dakota that is really good, but that scene isn’t that good, so they are having trouble. The Midwest overall is a good scene for us to play.”

Stickney appreciates working with the musicians in the band, and he is proud of the group’s songwriting skills.

“Mike does a lot of writing, but we all add our own thing and mix it up,” Stickney said.

He added that the band aims for a high energy live performance but sometimes performs acoustic shows for the venues that prefer things to remain a little more quiet.

The Prairie Dogs play tonight at Friends Club at 8. Admission is $2. The band also plays Tuesday at Boheme.