Breeder already given dog name

[swithers]

We are due to collect our pug puppy next weekend!

We've had a film sent to us of the puppy in training and performing a few tricks and at 14 weeks she is perfect.

However we noticed the daughter in the film calling the puppy by a name we would not choose,

My 10 year old is distraught as she has chosen her own name for the dog,

Will it be ok to rename the puppy once we get her or is that a no no as it will upset the dog?

Any advice appreciated x

At 14 weeks? I would rename the puppy. My cats resposmt to anything I say in the same tone of voice I use for their name.

Respond!
Not sure how different a dog would be, but I'm sure it will be fine.

We were lucky enough to get our hooligan of a collie when we rescued him at eighteen months.

We used his new name every chance we got for a long time, we will never know what his first name was (or indeed whether they cared enough to give him one)

Every interaction with him we used his name, he was responding within a few weeks.

Fret not.

Dogs don’t care about their names, it’s just a noise that means you want their attention... and they always come named something, even if they’ve just been getting called puppy, they still respond to it.

You just teach them their new name, say it lots, give a treat when you do - they pick it up real quick.

The puppy won't care or even notice if you change their name, I assure you.

Change the name

Rename him. We renamed our 2 year old cat on the basis that he’d been so badly mistreated when we got him we wanted to give him a new start. He responded quickly (and he’s a cat - known for being standoffish!). 14 weeks is nothing.

I rescued a dog at 18 months and changed her name to what I wanted. It really didn’t bother her at all, she just lapped up all the fuss and love. Go ahead and change the pups name. Congratulations ❤️

Ps I have a kitten with a beautiful name! She doesn’t answer to anything apart from baby! So I’ve kept her name for her register.

Don't be daft.
Are you sure you are ready for dog ownership if this bothers you so much?

Rename him.

They can't really call him Puppy1 or Puppy2 for 14 weeks when training him, so it's not surprising they gave him a name. He'll respond to his new name in time. My friend has rescued 4 dogs over the years, who she always renamed with no issues.

Are you getting it at 14 weeks as delayed due to lockdown, seems quite old otherwise. But yes easy to change name. Our dog knows his name but also responds to ‘dog’, ‘biscuit’ ‘food’. In fact he responds better to them than his name!

You could send a message saying thanks for the lovely video and at the same time pass on the name you intend to give the puppy. The breeder will need this for her microchip/paperwork anyway. Hopefully then they will start to use the name you prefer.

You can literally change a dog's name in 5 minutes if you have a piece of chicken in your hand.

Totally @fivedogstofeed. My dog probably thinks his name is chicken. 😂

We gave our nine puppies names whilst they were with their mother, and all but one were successfully renamed when they went to their permanent homes. (I don't mean one was unsuccessful, they liked the name we gave him!)

We have had several adult rescues over the years and found that they name change quickly, and also take on additional nicknames and insults.
Our two currently respond to their names, Baby and Puppy respectively, Mrs and Miss Dog, Horrible Dog, Dog, Dogface, Shouter and Madam.. the list goes on.

I adopted an older dog a good few years ago, the first thing we got told at the orientation evening was "change their name to whatever you like, they don't care".

I kept her name but called her all sorts of daft nicknames over the years and she responded to them all because dogs actually respond to the tone of your voice not the words.

Just rename him once you get him home.

But......
My 10 year old is distraught as she has chosen her own name for the dog,

Is it maybe time to teach your dd a little more resilience? If she's "distraught" over something so simple, fixable and irrelevant then how will she cope if puppy gets hurt or ill for example.

Seems to be quite common when puppies come from homes with children so I wouldn't worry. Our pup was called 'snowball' and we renamed her Gabby which sounds nothing alike, and she soon got used to it

I’ve had a couple of old rescue dogs. One was 9ish and I changed her name she didn’t care.
My other was 2ish and I hated his name so changed it. He picked it up within a day no problem.
My current 3 dogs have there names and easily 3 nicknames each and respond to them.

The breeder/her daughter hasn’t done anything wrong . You can easily change pups name when you bring him home. It’s really a non issue.

I think it's normal for them to give the dog a name so they can differentiate between the pups, but the puppy won't know , I'd definitely change it. Our rescue was found as a stray aged approx 6 months, the rescue centre named him Horace, which we changed when we adopted him

Of course you can.

Dogs associate their name as what you call them by, it's not something they identify as themselves. They'd probably cope with two different people calling them a different name each if you wanted to confuse yourselves.

We name-changed our adult rescue and she responded to us using the new name very quickly. As she was a stray she'd only had her rescue name a few weeks in any case. There was no way of knowing her original name.

That's fairly normal , the breeders are usually kind people and want to be kind to the puppies .. our bengals were named when we got them and we would of course have changed to our chosen names but we liked them so kept them. The pup is so young it will learn quickly .

I don't think it's the name they respond to so much as they way you say them and what your body language is when calling them. And as your voices are so different to the breeder's it wouldn't sound the same even if you did use the same name. I'm sure all breeders must give them temporary names so they can interact with them?

My friend chose her pup's name shortly after the litter was born and the breeder has been using that one - was it not possible to let the breeder know the name your DD chose?

Just change it we got our dog at twenty weeks and chnaged it you just call her old name and new name then gradually drop old one, only took a few days.