Thoughts on changing a dogs name

dudmis

We are (hopefully) adopting a little rescue doggy soon and I was hoping to get some opinions on changing his name. I thought that allowing the kids to name him might help with bonding but will that affect him?

strandroad

I don't think so, most rescued dogs I know had their names changed apart from one. Depends on what was the history of the dog - was he surrendered and so had the name for years possibly, or is it a temp name rescue workers gave him?

dudmis

No, he came in with a tag on him but the rescue havn't been able to locate his owners (no chip) - so i'm assuming this is his name since a pup

Dingle_berry

When I got my dog his name didn't suit him at all, he only occasionally responded to it. We renamed him Dingleberry (dingle for short) and he responded straight away.
I think it's more a tone of voice than words that dogs respond to?

lorebringer

We have renamed rescue dogs with no problems. Eveyone must be on board - you can't have some people in the house calling the dog one thing and others calling the dog something else. The other essential thing is that you need to call the dog the new name from the start - it will confuse the poor thing if you start out calling it one name and then changing it suddenly. Obviously, the dog will have no recall or anything until it has learned the new name. If you can name the dog something that has a similar sound to the original name, it will help with the dog learning the new one.

TooManyDogs

We regularly rename the dogs coming into the rescue, they might come in with stupid names or are strays so have no name. Most people rename them with no problems at all.

Sometimes a new name for a fresh start can be a very good idea.

Cedrus

I'd say it depends on the age of the dog and how happy it was with it's former name/life.
It's fairly easy to change most dogs names if it sounds similar to them, mostly their ear is not acute enough to discern our syllables (my Mum even got away with saying the W word today without having to take our dogs out, which we never would), much easier for a pup to learn a new name and harder for an elderly re-homer.
I'd like to believe that a dog rescued from a really horrible life would LOVE a new name but that's probably just a romantic notion and even 'F..ing B..d dog' sounds completely different when said by a loving rescuer than it ever did when said by the original abuser.

TooManyDogs

Cedrus wrote: »

I'd like to believe that a dog rescued from a really horrible life would LOVE a new name but that's probably just a romantic notion and even 'F..ing B..d dog' sounds completely different when said by a loving rescuer than it ever did when said by the original abuser.

It's not necessarily a romantic notion, names can become poisoned ques, in other words the dog associates it's name (which is only another command to the dog, not an identity of self) with negativity and immediately becomes anxious and fearful. Then a name change can remove a host of problems as you re-train basic commands and encourage good behaviour and build up trust.

dudmis

So, even if the dog seems to be good natured (as this little fella does) it might be a good idea to change his name just to be on the safe side?

TooManyDogs

Ahhh no, not necessarily. There's just nothing wrong with changing a dogs name, and there can be often be quite a few benefits to changing the name, that may be one but it's not a big chance of you getting a dog who's previous owners ruined their name and turned it into a poisoned que. I guess it's more something to be aware of if training isn't going quite as well as someone had hoped, that poisoned ques are an area that can be looked at as well as other things.

Dogs don't have the same attachment to their name as we do, they more think of it as a command meaning "I'm talking to you, please pay attention", but they can and do easily learn a new name. It's happened a few times that a dog has come into the rescue, we've named it something, it begins to respond within a few days and then the owners turn up and tell us the dog has a totally different name.

People can be afraid to change their name in case they confuse the dog but a new name is easily changed, some people feel they bond quicker with the dog if they choose their own name, and some people feel it's a fresh start for the dog to have a new name, kind of like a line in the sand. Of my own rescue dogs I changed 3 names (one doesn't count cos the dog is deaf ) and kept 1 the same because it suited him.

So basically go with the flow and do whatever is right for your family.

dudmis

sounds good! thanks for all the advice

Cedrus

TooManyDogs wrote: »

It's not necessarily a romantic notion, names can become poisoned ques, in other words the dog associates it's name (which is only another command to the dog, not an identity of self) with negativity and immediately becomes anxious and fearful. Then a name change can remove a host of problems as you re-train basic commands and encourage good behaviour and build up trust.

True of course, but I'm not sure that it has to become a poisoned cue, I really do believe that most of the time dogs hear the cue word only in the context of a general demeanour, kind of like the way we would hear a word that would be an insult from a stranger but only playful from a friend.
I don't have a rescue dog myself (yet, but given time & space will) but I know of a dog that is terrified of men and another that is terrified of men dressed in black (light or bright colours are fine), and of course loud angry voices are obvious toxic cues.

TooManyDogs

Cedrus wrote: »

True of course, but I'm not sure that it has to become a poisoned cue

Which is exactly why I said 'can' and not 'will'. There is very little 100% black and white when it comes to dog behaviour so it's helpful to be aware of possiblilities.