I assume it’s simple as they just hear their ‘name’ as a command?

Anyone got experience of this?

I recall a newspaper story where a UK police force were importing german shepherds from europe, and the dogs all had “european” type names. The force were training the dogs to respond to a british name by the handlers using european name:uk name, then uk name:european name, then stopping european name totally. Took a number of weeks to achieve. SImply a case of the dog associating the new name with the old, and the new name then taking over.

from, to?

vaguely related, but not. i recall a story of some impounded dogs who were very troublesome for customs until people realised they were polish, and got someone who could talk to them in polish.

then they were perfectly well behaved :s

im pretty sure my cat knows her name.

you can “call her” other things and she ignores them, though her ears prick up.

call her by name and she gives me the “what?” Glare 🙂

Not sure what from as I’ve yet to choose the blessed hound, but will be to either Spud or Spanner. Or maybe Li’l Zé

I took on a rescue dog.. (Lady Brankstaff Luck III) whose previous owners had trained her to respond to the name Levi… I used this name for the first couple of months but also interchanged it with the name Piggy before eventually phasing out Levi completely after 3 or 4 months..

Strangely she would still respond to Levi years later even if no-one had used the name at all in that time..

It’s all in the syllables and intonation apparently..

EDIT: she also responded to pigs.. piggle.. pigface.. angelface.. grumpy.. beautiful.. dopey.. bashful.. shlaaaag.. oi.. hey.. fleabag.. fattylumpkin and gerrouttovityoumangyhound..

I’ve yet to choose the blessed hound, but will be to either Spud or Spanner

if youve not got the mutt yet, and are so set on the name, why not get a dog with the name you want :s

Actually ‘Pig’ would be a nice name

My previous dog, another Staff, had the official name Maxwell Bubba and was commonly called Max. Over time he was referred to as Little Bastid, as in come here you Little Bastid. Anway, I had to pass him on to someone new due to a change in circumstances, a couple of years later a friend of mine was feeding the dogs in his mother’s kennels when he saw a Staff that he thought looked like Max. As a check he called the dog Little Bastid and the dog responded in a positive way.
You won’t have any problems changing the name. That said the current dog only receives instructions in Spanish, never thought about trying it in English, just tried it… She doesn’t respond to English!!

We chose the name Piggy partly due to her incessant snoring and grunting.. her amazing ability for sniffing out truffles and her chunky nature..
but mostly because we live across the road from a policestation and walked her in their garden most days.. 😈

Our present dog is called Duck.. cos my other half thinks it makes me look camp when we’re out with her..
DuckeeeEEEE!

Mine was called Logan originally (from RSPCA). For some reason since I’ve had him this changed to Bear. He no longer recognises Logan.
Hope this helps.
Oh, and pig is a great name for a dog IMO.

Mine tends to respond to about 3 different names as her original name has morphed over the years. From Ruby, to Roobs, to berta. She get’s called all of them randomly all the time and seems fine with it.

Mind, her pedigree name is “Malmpit top o the morning” which is funny as she’s not Irish, and would stay in bed till midday if I didn’t drag her out for a walk.

When we rescued our staffie he had a silly murderdeathkill type name so we called him Ben,
He seems to like being a Ben and responds to his new name fine

yes easy just call it something different it wll eventually realise this. I trained my dog to big potato for walk to avoid the hassle of excitment everytime someone said walk in her presence. Worked a treat tillsomeone handed me a big potato at a bar-b-q

My cat ignores me whether I call her by the daft name supplied by the rescue home or the less daft one we gave her when we got her.

Fatmuthahubbard’s choccy lab is the stoopidest dog ever, and he still got over his name change (rehomed at 3 or 4 years old) in 3 or 4 weeks.

my cat was called “Sooty” when we took him from the RSPCA. He was about 9 years old & previous owner had died.

2 years on he responds to his new name “Bobby” and he’s the nicest cat you’ll ever meet

yes yes, cats etc, but not relevant.

off to a dogs trust place next week to find Pig, or Li’l Ze

My previous dog, another Staff, had the official name Maxwell Bubba and was commonly called Max. Over time he was referred to as Little Bastid, as in come here you Little Bastid. Anway, I had to pass him on to someone new due to a change in circumstances, a couple of years later a friend of mine was feeding the dogs in his mother’s kennels when he saw a Staff that he thought looked like Max. As a check he called the dog Little Bastid and the dog responded in a positive way.
You won’t have any problems changing the name. That said the current dog only receives instructions in Spanish, never thought about trying it in English, just tried it… She doesn’t respond to English!!

lol at this. Our staff is offically called Molly, but generally shows interest in any word/name ending in an “eeeeee” type sound. Sadly she also responds to Shithead along the same lines as yours responds to Little Bastid – she’s usually had a dump, and as you’re in the middle of cleaning up she either wanders off, gets impatient, or does another, and usually a “get here Shithead” does sthe trick. Stupidhead is another name she answers to in polite company.

Staffs need simple names, they’re too thick to bother responding to anything complicated.

changed ours from ‘lotus’ to ‘floyd’ when we got our 4yr old lab. within a few weeks he was answering to it no problems, just the old praise and reward jobby done the trick.

our dogs have various names and nick names and respond to all.

our Yorkie is known as Lewis but responds to “Dude, Stinky, Busby and others – clever chap

we have 14 month old springer called “Ruby” but we also use the nick name “Rhubarb” and she responds to both equally well

About 5 days for Harper to learn Huxley when we got him. New house new name and a fresh start and he’s not the sharpest tool in the box sometimes. 😀

wtf is a reward jobby? 😉

Our little boarder was called JT (John Terry & I hate chelski) when it was a pup, we called it Kobe, he also responds to ‘boy’ (he is one) & the other one responds to ‘girl’, genrally anything said in the command voice works though.
It’s simple really, when playing with, or giving attention to, the dog then just look at it, say name, then call it whilst maintaining eye contact & reward as appropriate, clever things dogs 🙂