Name of Dog

[JoWithABow]

Does anyone have any experience of renaming a dog? We have just got one from a rescue centre and want to change its name but would this cause any problems? It's 5 so responds to its current name

I would keep the same name but maybe improvise, we had a rescue dog called meg.....we call her Meggy moo...I think it would and does help them to settle in better to new home as they retain something familiar. Good luck hope all goes well

My dog responds to many names . If you want to change it just start using the new name along with the old and then gradually drop the old one.

Mine has a strange human name and I would never have picked it, but we kept it as she responds to it and I didn't want to confuse her even more. It suits her now though.

We had a stray so nobody knew his real name, within a day he responded to our choice of name.

I have named & renamed numerous dogs and they really don't mind!
They respond to whatever name you choose, because you teach them to associate that word with getting a treat and making you happy and excited.

My dog trainer said she could teach a dog its new name in an hour - you just sit next to it on the floor and say 'Boris' and give it a treat/bit of food. And keep doing that for an hour intermittently.

Obviously not 'boris' if that's not its name
She renames them for a local dog rescue

Just teach them a new name and they'll be fine. Dogs that change home, will often have to learn new command words anyway. For example where one person might say stay, another might say wait or something like down could be lay or floor - people's commands do vary.

Thank you, and Boris would be an excellent name for a dog (if it wasnt associated with a certain Johnson)
I like the idea of calling it both names then slowly dropping one