• This topic has 35 replies, 31 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by richc.
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  • Changing a dog's name…
  • johndoh
    Free Member

    Following on from my previous post – if we were to get a (say) 1 yr old dog from a rescue/unwanted advert is it feasible to change it’s name (we are getting the dog as a pet for our children and would like them to be able to choose it’s name if possible).

    It might sound a very silly question I know but I know nothing about dogs!

    theotherjonv
    Full Member

    Yes, especially if it’s to a name that has a similar sound or can be intonated in the same way.

    cbmotorsport
    Free Member

    Yes, we changed our rescue dogs name when we got him at the age of 3. It sounds reasonably similar. It doesn’t really matter, you quickly develop about 25 nick names for them anyway.

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    Junkyard
    Free Member

    dead easy just keep repeating the name and the dog will get it eventually

    As noted easy to change to a similar name but you can use anything
    My dog re learnt the word big potato for walk – when i shared a house and we all had talks and walked it was just easier to have her not get excited all the time- think she was about 9 or 10 at this point.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Yes. But I don’t think you should let your children choose it. You should let us choose it! Especially if its a nicely unruly / disobedient dog that you have to shout for a lot in the park.

    My vote is for
    ‘Knackers’
    ‘Omar’s Coming’
    ‘Big Issue’

    How many votes am i allowed to have?

    midlifecrashes
    Full Member

    Yes, we had a border collie, Meg, rescued another to keep it company, also called Meg, so we reversed it to Gem. Worked fine, and it doesn’t matter that much if you have more than one dog as if one comes when you shout it, it’s likely they all will. Gem never complained, anyway.

    perchypanther
    Free Member

    Try and keep the same first initial.
    Monogrammed dog pyjamas don’t grow on trees you know.

    SaxonRider
    Full Member

    Our dogs always had their proper names, but then, among the various children around, would inevitably get an entirely unrelated ‘nickname’ or two.

    They would always respond no matter which name was used, as they would hear them enough to know the names were theirs.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I’d have thought you just needed to change the collar.

    lunge
    Full Member

    Dog names you say?
    Tiddles, Felix are 2 of my favorites however I do like dog names that are very normal like Ian, Dave, Kev, Susan, Stacey, that kind of thing, the idea of shouting across the park “Kev, get here and stop s###ing on the grass” always amuses me.

    just5minutes
    Free Member

    just say the old name and new name together and over time stop using the old one. That’s how one police force re-trained Alsations they bought from Germany to recognise their new “english” names.

    cbmotorsport
    Free Member

    Our dogs always had their proper names, but then, among the various children around, would inevitably get an entirely unrelated ‘nickname’ or two.

    They would always respond no matter which name was used, as they would hear them enough to know they were theirs.

    ^This.

    Our dog George is known as Mr D-Q and Leelow to name a couple. Go figure.

    allthepies
    Free Member

    Allahu Akbar ?

    wwaswas
    Full Member

    Bloke near us called his dog ‘Taxi’ ‘cos he thought it wouldn’t be embarrassing to shout it out when he wanted the dog to come back.

    It turns out that standing alone in the middle of the park shouting “TAXI” repeatedly and in a very Partridge like way gains you some very odd looks and is way worse than any of the alternatives he’d considered.

    The dog, of course, now won’#t answer to anything else.

    johndoh
    Free Member

    Cheers all.

    Now waiting for a call back from an ill lady with an 8 month old Springer needing rehoming…

    footflaps
    Full Member

    It turns out that standing alone in the middle of the park shouting “TAXI” repeatedly and in a very Partridge like way gains you some very odd looks and is way worse than any of the alternatives he’d considered.

    🙂

    cbmotorsport
    Free Member

    an 8 month old Springer needing rehoming…

    Lovely dogs, but incredibly demanding. They need an obscene amount of exercise to stay sane. A friend of mine works outside all day on a country estate and his goes everywhere off the lead, and does what it likes all day. It still demands walks when he gets home.

    My Aunt had one, she was lazy and didn’t walk it enough it was incredibly bright and became incredibly naughty and a bit mad in the head, probably through boredom.

    willard
    Full Member

    I have an 8 year old Springer at home and he was like that when he was younger. Would play and work all day and still want three walks. Mind you, as soon as he had down time he would just sleep, but then wake up and be up for another session playing fetch.

    Now he’s older and a little slower. Not quite so slim and, whilst he will chase a tennis ball for ages, will also enjoy occupying a sofa for hours snoring and farting. He still gets three walks a day though.

    willard
    Full Member

    He’s also known by a number of names. Ted is his proper name, but he responds to Whiney (his brother, Ralph, responds to Stinky) and Tedward.

    bruneep
    Full Member

    many names for Archie

    dog!
    FFS get out of the way!
    hey min!
    Bed!
    etc
    etc

    Answers to none of them

    CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    Depends if you want to change its name or change what you call it

    dmorts
    Full Member

    I would find it highly amusing if a dog was called Richard and always by it’s full name

    suburbanreuben
    Free Member

    There was a chap on here, I think, a few years back who liked his dog’s name so much he wanted to call his new born son the same name and rename the dog.

    I wonder how that went..?

    aracer
    Free Member

    Fenton?

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    There was a chap on here, I think, a few years back who liked his dog’s name so much he wanted to call his new born son the same name and rename the dog.

    I wonder how that went..?

    Bingo is going to get teased a fair bit when he starts school

    surroundedbyhills
    Free Member

    I have some experience of this…my gf at time and I had 2 dogs (she still has them)
    Rescue dog called Lassie was changed to Whisky
    Puppy originally called Copper was changed to Kipper – dogs are quite happy AFICT.

    People who ought to change their dog’s names:

    I know of a lady who called her dog “Fell” – the Ochils MRT was called out one night a few years back because someone heard a womans voice crying out “Fell”. The fact that the owner was tucked up at home with her dog whilst the MRT were scouring the hillside woods only came to her attention sometime later.

    The worst though is an idiot I know who has a very unruly black lab which he takes out in the hills almost every weekend, I fear the dog will not be long for the world as he named it “Chase”. I am convinced, and it has been raised this with him, that a farmer at some point will have his gun to hand and will use it when the idiot is trying to recall his dog off a herd of sheep.

    trailofdestruction
    Free Member

    Yes, especially if it’s to a name that has a similar sound or can be intonated in the same way.

    +1 to this. We re-homed this guy from the Dogs Trust many years ago

    Part of the deal of re-homing from the Dogs Trust, is that the dog will be neutered. Well, he was called ‘Jaffa’, but there was no way I was going to have the poor little buggers meat and two veg removed and then tease him about it forever, so we changed his name to Jasper. Took him a little while to readjust, but once he realised that we were talking to him it was fine.

    surfer
    Free Member

    We have a Spaniel called Monty. He is 2 but for some reason we also call him “chops” 😯

    Doesn’t make any difference as he doesn’t really answer to anything 🙂

    irelanst
    Free Member

    We got our dog when we lived in Holland and her obedience classes were all in Dutch. She responds in exactly the same way to commands given in English (some are obviously the same Zit=Sit, Laat het=Leave it but others are not so similar Bleif=Stay) so anecdotally I don’t think it matters what you say it’s the way you say it.

    Although it would appear there is no intonation which translates “do not touch the bacon sandwich that I’ve left unattended for a nanosecond” into dog language.

    konabunny
    Free Member

    Fenton?

    Fenton!

    jointhedotz
    Free Member

    We renamed one of our greyhounds when we adopted him, he didn’t really notice. The 2nd greyhound we adopted had pretty decent recall so we kept the name ‘Mimi’ despite it being disgusting. She learnt to ignore recall off dog number 1.

    I now find that they respond best to rustling packets and the idea you might be going somewhere interesting. I don’t even use their real names any more….just ‘dogs’, ‘fleabags’, *insert random insult*. They pay attention when it’s something beneficial to them 🙂

    supersessions9-2
    Free Member

    No problem changing names, changed all our rescue dogs names. They get used to what they are called by you very quickly. PLus they will get daft nicknames.

    Alfie, was Ronnie.
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/8S9CGi]Beach + sun = happy dog[/url] by Evil Goat, on Flickr

    Charley, was Tug!?
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/8ScJWW]beach + stick = happy dog[/url] by Evil Goat, on Flickr

    Peggy, was Samantha.
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/N7JYu]Peg's spots her prey![/url] by Evil Goat, on Flickr

    As for 8 month old springers. Mmmm, they are energetic, but don’t over-exercise the body as they will get fitter and fitter and you won’t keep up. I think people read that they need lots of exercise and so do that and they are still a handful and it probably makes them worse. You need to tire them out mentally. We take a ball on every walk and mine spends the time finding and retrieving.

    2 walks a day, 45 mins to an hour each. max. occasionally do a third, but don’t make a habit of it.

    But spend time exercising their brain, sniffer games in the house. lunchtime 20 min ball game. Do agility, or flyball, stuff like that. Someone on here gave me the advice: find them a job, don’t let them go self-employed!

    Love my Springer, but she is infuriating if she’s bored in the house! You know when you need to play.

    Nell.
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/y4cPhQ]Courtesy of uncle k.[/url] by Evil Goat, on Flickr

    jimdubleyou
    Full Member

    . Took him a little while to readjust, but once he realised that we were talking to him it was fine.

    He probably still wonders why you can’t get his name right 😛

    Scienceofficer
    Free Member

    Our cocker is called Oakley, but mostly he goes by the name of ‘stinky poo face’ or ‘bastard’ he doesn’t seem to mind.

    honeybadgerx
    Full Member

    My mum has a rescue staffy/greyhound cross thing that ignores everything apart from the noise that mature cheddar makes. Record that and save to your mobile and you’re a winner.

    richc
    Free Member

    One of my rescue dogs was called Ebony (black lab); but not for long as she was renamed to Megatron, Meg for short though.

    Took about 3 or 4 days for her to get the new name, and in those first days she was like a shadow anyway so it wasn’t a problem

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