Two Dogs Same Name

Officer Giggles

I currently have a dog and am looking to rescue an accomplace sorry friend for him, iv seen a nice lab but his name is the same as my dogs, would this cause any problems?

Whispered

Where will you be rescuing him from - pretty often dogs coming from rescue are named for ID purposes but generally don't learn them. You could call him another name and stick with it.

If he's a foodie try putting both into a sit then call his new name, when he looks at you give him the treat and when you use the other name give the other dog the treat. The new lab will learn quickly his new name. Spending time alone with him and using his name a lot will teach him very quickly too.

I can't really see it being a problem. Names are not at all important to dogs, and when you think about it 90% of the time you communicate without using the name anyway.

What's the name of both dogs? What will your new one be?

Officer Giggles

iv a newfoundland called Fred and theres a lab called Freddy on irishanimals looking to be re homed, dont know anything about him yet just saw the advert this evening

Whispered

Change his name to teddy and I bet he wont even notice.

Officer Giggles

funny you should say that was in the pet shop yesterday and the person in there thought i said my newfies name was teddy and said it was a great name for him

Cherry Blossom

Whispered wrote: »

Change his name to teddy and I bet he wont even notice.

I got a little rescue pony called Dolly and she recognised her name, my horse is called Molly and it sounded a bit stupid refering to them both in the same sentance and no one took anything I said about them seriously so Dolly became Daisy which she still recognised as her name

TooManyDogs

Yep change away. It'd be easier to change it than have 2 in the house with the same name. I fostered a dog named Ellie and I already had an Ellie so ended up calling the foster 'Big Ellie' to try and create a difference. Dogs learn a new name really easily. We started to refering to our lab x as 'Fatboy' and now he answers to that and his real name

lorebringer

Once you adopt the dog, if you pick a name and stick to it the new dog should be fine in learning it's new name. We have changed many dogs names and once they learn who's who they are fine! Referring to them by name for the first few weeks will help reinforce their new name (and make you feel like you are going mad!) - every time you give treats, praise them, give them rubs etc. saying their name will get the message home! Generally, if you pick something totally different from your current dogs name there is no mix up for anyone (except the new one for a week or two because he has the same name!)

Btw - love the name "Teddy"

lrushe

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

I got a little rescue pony called Dolly and she recognised her name, my horse is called Molly and it sounded a bit stupid refering to them both in the same sentance and no one took anything I said about them seriously so Dolly became Daisy which she still recognised as her name

In my old riding school they used to say it was bad luck to change a horse names, don't know whether it was one of those old wives tale or it came from horse racing world where there are so many superstitions

Discodog

Fred & Freddy are ok in that they sound different. With two dogs I prefer a one syllable word for one & a two syllable for the other - the fun comes when you get a third dog as I did. I think that it helps the dog to recognise which one you are calling. I also use a different whistle for each dog.

Cherry Blossom

lrushe wrote: »

In my old riding school they used to say it was bad luck to change a horse names, don't know whether it was one of those old wives tale or it came from horse racing world where there are so many superstitions

I've heard this lots of times, I'm not superstitious but I tell people in her case the name change marked a change of luck as she hadn't had much before she came here

lrushe

Discodog wrote: »

Fred & Freddy are ok in that they sound different. With two dogs I prefer a one syllable word for one & a two syllable for the other - the fun comes when you get a third dog as I did. I think that it helps the dog to recognise which one you are calling. I also use a different whistle for each dog.

I agree, in my case with 3 dogs I find I address each with a different level of intensity. For example my Spitz is extremely obedient, comes first time, does what he's asked immediately when he's asked etc. so I find when I call him my voice is low with little intensity as I know he will came when called, my Chihuahua is a bit shy so when I call her it's more a 'sing songy' kinda way, too instense and she gets worried. My Rottie being young and a bit head strong wouldn't take me seriously if I called her like the other two so when I call her I need to sound like I mean it.
Even if all 3 of my dogs had the same name I don't think it wouldn't matter as I address each one as an individual.