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The doghouse

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Original poster

Did you change your rescue dogs name?

71 replies

hillyhilly · 03/09/2016 16:18

How confusing would it be for a dog to get used to a new name? Did you choose a similar sounding one of it was different?

OP posts:

TrionicLettuce · 05/09/2016 01:15

Not officially but over the years we gradually ended up calling him all sorts which he very quickly learned to answer to.

All my dogs answer to their actual names plus a variety of increasingly silly nicknames, most of which bear very little resemblance to their proper names.

They learn very quickly and I don't think there's any issue at all in changing the name of a rescue if you want to.

ABCFamily · 05/09/2016 06:42

We did. She was found as a stray though, so she'd only had the name given to her by the shelter for a short time anyway.

I think for me it would be context specific. For example, when we visited, there were a pair of older cats whom the shelter were trying to rehome together after their owner had died. I probably would have kept their names the same if we'd adopted them, on the basis that they'd had them all their lives and probably associated them with positive human interaction.

mrssmith79 · 05/09/2016 07:30

We kept it, she suited it. Just as well because the only alternative I had picked out in advance was a 'boy' name and we took our old girl home (I say old, we were definitely lied to as that was 9 years ago and she's still going strong ).

MyBootsAreMuddy · 05/09/2016 07:44

Yes we did with ours. He had the same name as one of the farm hands and DH didn't want to be calling it out and the wrong one come running.
It was no issue and he responded very quickly as, as pp have said, its the tone of voice and how the words sound that gets their attention mostly.

ElphabaTheGreen · 05/09/2016 07:56

Yes - we've had several rescues and changed all but one of their names as all of them (excepting the one) were daft, non-dog names. They've all been varying degrees of dachshund, which EVERYONE knows means you need a faux-German, slightly witty name. Not 'Sharon', FFS

randomer · 05/09/2016 09:55

poor little designer dog...this is something I am considering....any tips?

spiderlight · 05/09/2016 10:06

We didn't, because the scary RSPCA lady doing the adoption handover put us on the spot. She brandished a load of forms at us about five minutes after we'd first met her and said 'Right, are you sticking with Megan? Because once I've put it on this form, that's it!' Luckily we quite liked it and it suited her. I know we could have called her what we liked at home but it seemed silly to have two names. (Says she whose other dog has two middle names....).

ElsieMc · 05/09/2016 11:07

I rehomed two spaniels, but not from a rescue. Liked one name, hated the other but he is anxious about being left and we kept the same name by way of reassurance.

Don't know now though when other posters have said it took no time for their dog to get used to a new name. Maybe I am bestowing more intelligence on the dogs than they really have.

Going off topic a bit, I was warned I had made a big mistake rehoming, but they are such lovely friendly dogs and so deserved a nice home. There were a few teething problems, for example the other owner had done little or no walking on a lead with them so it was mad at first. Probably took them around 2-3 weeks to get it right.

TattyCat · 05/09/2016 11:16

Yep, from Caspar to Jasper! No transition time required and he was a black Lab, so perfectly suited to his new name

DailyMailEthicalFail · 05/09/2016 12:53

We have a rescue. She was 5.5 when we got her and had only had 1 name.

It was ruddy awful so we gave her a new one (part of her pedigree name).
It's not a great name either tbh, but cant change it again now.

She doesn't listen .
Old owner (we are in touch with) said she never listened to her old name either.
If we gave her a nice new name, she'd not listen.
But, we luffs her.

TheEternalForever · 05/09/2016 12:55

It's not confusing for them. When we adopted our dog her name was Poppy, and while that was a perfectly nice name it didn't suit her at all. She'd also had a rather bad time in her last home, and we wanted to change her name to something we loved and also I suppose as a way to show her that she was part of our family now and she'd never have to worry again (yes yes that was obviously more for our benefit than hers but we didn't want to think of her being worried or thinking about her old "home"). We renamed her (the name is from a TV show I really liked) and she responded almost straight away. It potentially helped that she was still a puppy and that she didn't respond to her old name anyway (her previous owner didn't interact with her) but I doubt it matters to any dog. I'd rename any other rescue I had (unless I really liked the name) just as I would name a pet I bought from a breeder. The animal reacts to the tone of your voice and who you are more than the actual name you use. It doesn't matter to them, they're just happy that they have a real family and a real home now, so name it what you want

GobblersKnob · 05/09/2016 12:57

Yes, a 'name' means nothing to a dog, with a loving owner it's just a word that usually means good things are about to happen.

moosemama · 05/09/2016 14:31

I've kept some and changed some over the years. of the two rescues we have at the moment we kept one name and changed the other (which was awful and didn't suit him at all).

As long as the name is used in a loving and rewarding way they quickly start to respond to it. Kikopup has a video to help people teach dogs their name. .

Whingysquirrel · 05/09/2016 16:07

I didn't. I couldn't think of one! I wish I had because I really don't like his name at all. I still can't think of what I would like to call him otherwise though. And the name he has now is his second or perhaps third name.

citychick · 05/09/2016 16:08

We kept the name.
She was rescued from a "pet" shop in Hong Kong. It seemed fitting to keep it, despite her sad previous life.
We flew her back with us to the UK and she was quite the talk of the town with her Chinese name.
We miss her desperately now she's no longer alive.

KitKats28 · 05/09/2016 16:57

Elpheba are you the person on Facebook with Pretzel, Schnitzel and Strudel? If so, they are awesome daxy names. My daxies also have pretentious German names.

I didn't change the names of either of my previous rescue dogs, as I hardly ever use their proper names anyway. They all answer to anything I call them, like Fat Boy, Stinky, Lard Butt, Princess.....

ElphabaTheGreen · 05/09/2016 17:04

Not me KitKats, but I approve

Approximateh0usewife · 05/09/2016 19:13

Retired greyhound came to us four years old and dubiously named Denise. She didn't respond to it and I doubt they'd trainer called her anything but dog or similar and tbh we didnt ever consider keeping it. Took her less than a week or recognise and respond to her new name.

2kids2dogsnosense · 05/09/2016 19:15

Shorty "Spud" and "Hippie" . . . . I think I see a pattern here . . .

2kids2dogsnosense · 05/09/2016 19:16

"CHIPPIE" not hippy.

AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE, AUTOCORRECT!!!!!!

LimeJellyHead · 05/09/2016 19:38

I've had 4 rescue dogs and have always changed their names

MiaowTheCat · 05/09/2016 20:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Greydog · 05/09/2016 20:45

Kept half of ours - as an ex racer she had a two part name, and we kept the second bit as it suited her.

Goodasgoldilox · 05/09/2016 20:50

All ours come no matter which name we call... in case there is a treat on offer.

AbernathysFringe · 06/09/2016 00:34

Chose a new one as former owners were our horrible neighbours who only ever shouted it at him and it was kind of worn out with overuse iyswim. It meant nothing good to him.

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