Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

Help name this pup please!

21 replies

Ullena · 27/01/2013 18:57

Lab collie mix, red and white, with yellow/green eyes. Male.

I love him to bits and he has 100% recall to whistle, BUT he just doesn't respond to any of the names we have tried so far...

Names so far:
Socks
Captain
Hobbes
Sulla

He does as he's told, regarding sit, down, etc, but it feels wrong not knowing what his name is!

OP posts:
deste · 27/01/2013 20:54

We have a Dexter and it suits him.

SpicyPear · 27/01/2013 20:59

Er, you need to teach him to respond his name not keep trying them until he picks one to listen to!

littlewhitebag · 27/01/2013 21:25

You need to just choose one and keep using it. You are just confusing poor pup.

LadyTurmoil · 27/01/2013 22:01

Agree that you just need to make up your mind and pick one... but what about Miller, Baxter, Jackson, Billy, Johnny?

permaquandry · 27/01/2013 22:03

Can u put a pic on profile? Is he a pup, how old?

CocoNutter · 27/01/2013 23:29

I love the name Socks Grin please persevere with this one!!

HazeltheMcWitch · 27/01/2013 23:30

Dave?

Original poster
Ullena · 28/01/2013 02:31

Oh he knows when he is being spoken to! He just doesn't acknowledge any name in particular. Have never met a dog that didn't click to some particular sound before. It's odd: he will look at us when spoken to, but only actually responds to actual commands, iyswim.

He was Hobbes when he came home but had and has never responded to it. We figured we would try one or two different sounding names, and see if he responded. This was over the course of a day or so, btw.

We stuck with Hobbes on week one, but he ignored it. Tried Socks and Captain, to see if he would respond any better to those...nah, not unless you have ham! Gave up trying to find a name he seemed to like the sound of, and picked one at random, as you do. Figuring that he would get used to it.

So for the past two and a half months, he has been Sulla. Except he ignores the fact that this is his name. He is five and a half months old, btw. He will come back to a whistle, he will sit, and leave it, and stay is 50% there. But his name? Just does not connect to it. It is weird.

I am beginning to suspect he just doesn't "do" names...

OP posts:
SpicyPear · 28/01/2013 09:00

What are you expecting when you say his name? All it should be is a "yes I'm talking to you" to get his attention so if he looks at you he does know it. You should always use a command with it when you want something done rather than just using the name as a general "come here". Do you have a clicker? I taught pup his name with that. So click treat, click treat when he made eye contact. Once he got the hang of that, added his name and click treat for making eye contact when we said his name. Got it in one or two sessions.

notMarlene · 28/01/2013 09:02

Winston

toffeelolly · 28/01/2013 09:10

cooper , joey , archie , sam , max , freddie , cody , ollie , otis ,

BouncyPenguin · 28/01/2013 09:22

Bertie

Reaa · 28/01/2013 09:29

Otis

permaquandry · 28/01/2013 10:09

Why not give him a name with lots of syllables; Horatio, Frederick, Maximilian.

Not the best examples but if its something distinctive and not sounding like any commonly used words, he may pick up on it.

My fave dogs name is Boris.

Floralnomad · 28/01/2013 11:22

My dog is 2.6 years old and I'm pretty sure he has no idea what his name is so you're not alone.

Original poster
Ullena · 28/01/2013 11:32

Spicypear, yes, that is it exactly! He never used to look around when we said what we considered to be his name. He would ignore it. We could have been saying the other dogs' names - they all respond by paying attention. Not him - without an actual command, he would just toddle on with whatever he was doing Confused

You know what I mean, it's hard to define, but you can tell when a dog is associating the sound of a word with something? They react in a different way? As we were training him commands the way you suggested, it wasn't an issue thankfully. And I use whistling for recall. And hand gestures to back this up.

Anyway, thank you all for the suggestions, we tried them casually in conversation waiting to see any interest in different sounds from him. Hazel - thank you for "Dave"! He likes this...he finally does that "you mean me?" look, and will run over when called with this name Grin

Am going to take him to do his canine good citizenship, and the trainer doing recall prefers the dog to know its name, rather than a whistle. So he had to have a name!

OP posts:
badtemperedaldbitch · 28/01/2013 11:35

i had a cat that only responded to 'whatsthis?' i used to have to shout it out the door to get her to come in!

Original poster
Ullena · 28/01/2013 11:37

As in, he looks up at the name Dave and goes all "that's to do with me!" as opposed to "oh the human made a noise, should I bother?"

If that makes sense? He is one of those self possessed, regal sort of dogs Blush

OP posts:
Original poster
Ullena · 28/01/2013 11:40

Lol at the cat!

We have another young dog who only responds to the cutesie version of his name...I named him Fenris, he works better to Fen-Fen. It's going to be embarrassing when he is fully grown, as he is not small!

OP posts:
permaquandry · 28/01/2013 11:41

Dave, excellent , love it. Hello Dave!

Original poster
Ullena · 28/01/2013 11:45

My nephews will be in kinks, they love that programme!

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page