Changing A Name

[mydiamond]

I wonder how hard is it to change a dog's name? We kept Diamond's name, mainly because he responds to it very well. But I've seen people changing their dog's names even if they respond to the original name just fine. I wonder how hard is it to do that? The reason why I ask is because I'm planning to adopt my second dog (~2 years left! WOO!) and 99% of rescue dogs come with their names. Some are great, but some names are just not my cup of tea I mean, I've just met a cat called Grapes this weekend. Few weeks ago there's this puppy at an adoption fair called Spoona. What in the world?

 

Anyways, look! I've made myself a name chart

 

If said second dog is a (x) then he/she will be called (*)

 

(x)Male dog non-Husky - (*)Riley

(x)Female dog non-Husky - (*)Rylee

(x)Male dog Husky - (*)Onyx

(x)Female dog Husky - (*)Ruby

[...]

As if your second dog wouldn't be a Husky

[BIGBY]

From what I've heard you take the new name and you add it onto the old name so like for an e.g

Old name = Grapes

New name = Onyx

So you'd say Grapes-Onyx repeatedly then eventually drop the grapes and just say Onyx.

[Mazz]

When we got Eisa, she had been called by another name at the shelter (forgot what it was). We started simply calling her Eisa and she picked up on the new name within the first couple of days.

[Jay]

When i got Kodiak they had named him Elton but they didnt have him but a couple of weeks. Kodiak does just fine with responding to his name

[jmscott]

You can just start from scratch as though the other name had no value anymore. Dust off the old clicker and start it all over again. Name, click, treat. Name, click, treat. Name, click, treat. Name, click, treat. 

[Andy]

We rescued Echo at 18 months old.

She was called Ginny

We changed it to Echo she took to it straight away.

 

As for strange names our first dog was a Border collie we got from a pup he was called Biscuit

on the drive back from wales we tried out hundreds of names and variations.

Biscuit was quirky and stuck in our minds. . . . So Biscuit he was.

[robke]

Alpha is the only one we did not change Jake our GD was called George in the shelter and he did not listen to that for a bit not even to get a treat... Bindi was Benji which we did not like and she did not perk her ears on either so we looked for something that sounded the same and come at Bindi...

[Sarah]

When we got koda at 18 months old he was called storm. Which didn't really fit with the other 2... kimba and kaiser. So we changed it from day 1 and called him koda. He is very food orientated so used that to call him for a couple of days

sent via husky howls

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

Skyla was called roxy when we got her I just kept calling her Skyla and praised her when she responded in any way at all a look at me or walking over to me etc

[snowpups]

Jasper was called jasper then got changed to doofus but there was no chance I was calling him that so changed it back to jasper. Chinook was called tikkina she wouldn't listen to it and kept coming when we called nanuk so we called her chinook.

[Kells xx]

We originally named daughtry 'koda' but then lots of other kodas came on To the forum and at husky meets every koda but ours would respond so we had to change it.... She had to have an awesome name...

And daughtry the singer is pretty awesome so we picked that

[NOBELHOWLUC49]

Hopefully we are going to adopt a GSD at the end of the month.... Her long name is Isabella same as our GSD Bella.  She is called Izzy for short at the mo so we will keep her name as she responds really well to it... and I like Izzy.. Howler was called that because he was the first one to Howl out of his litter   and trust me it suits him and he responds to his name really well... Love em all. 

 

I would imagine with a younger dog it would not be to difficult to change the name but for an older dog it may be a little more difficult.

[MollyCharly]

I'd think usually the dog pick up new name pretty fast, especially with positive rewards like walk, meals or treats.

You can also change it a little like Jasper becomes Jake or Lisa becomes Lizzy etc.

[MollyCharly]

But I've to say I LOVE Riley!! :-)

[mydiamond]

As if your second dog wouldn't be a Husky

 

Actually, I'm leaning more and more towards a non-Husky right now x Diamond is my first ever dog, so I'm kinda curious how would it feel to have a "typical" dog. One of those ball-fetching, off-leash-walking, command-responding, burglar-hating kind of dog. Maybe I'm gonna get a Lab

 

EDIT: but my third dog will definitely be another Husky or Husky mix not sure when I will be able to adopt a third, but there WILL be a third! Mwa ha ha!

[Kells xx]

Get a German shepherd... They are awesome

[mydiamond]

Get a German shepherd... They are awesome

 

That's my second favorite breed right there. Unfortunately I won't be able to have them until I have a place of my own they're too big for apartments. Wait, which means I probably won't get a Lab either. *sigh* My current vision of this second dog is some funky crossbred that is small enough for apartment life but big enough in personality x

[BlueWolf]

That's my second favorite breed right there. Unfortunately I won't be able to have them until I have a place of my own they're too big for apartments. Wait, which means I probably won't get a Lab either. *sigh* My current vision of this second dog is some funky crossbred that is small enough for apartment life but big enough in personality x

Chihuahuas have a personality (and an attitude...   )

[mydiamond]

Chihuahuas have a personality (and an attitude...   )

 

Diamond, for some reason, does not like toy breeds he mainly slaps them LOL

 

EDIT: though I suspect it has something to do with the fact that he lived with two toy breeds in his third foster home, and goodness knows how many more in his other previous homes

[Emma]

Diamond, for some reason, does not like toy breeds he mainly slaps them LOL

EDIT: though I suspect it has something to do with the fact that he lived with two toy breeds in his third foster home, and goodness knows how many more in his other previous homes

Lol. Bear does that too to pretty much every dog she sees. [emoji2]

[Clare70]

All of mine are rescues and all came with names though I think they weren't their original names. Even though I hate Snowy and Harrys name they just stuck and we couldn't think of alternatives. We made up posh sounding names just for our own amusement. Harrys is Vasquillius Husqvana, so in short we call him Vasqi and he responds to it, we also call him 'H' and he responds to that too.  Snowy doesn't listen anyway His posh name is Snowdom nimbus but his nickname is Wiblet  On walks if you call Snowy he turns his head but in the dog run, well that is another story.

 

Maiya was called Esme and we really didn't like it.  My hubby chose Maiya (even though he has never seen the film 8 below and was surprised when I told him it was a popular husky name, though she's a Mal. She responded to that straight away, so I thinking maybe her previous owners called her that, or we are just lucky as she's a fast learner.

[Joey.Zarly]

One of my rescues i had a few years ago didn't even respond to his name and I didn't change it, what i did which worked brilliantly was bounce around happy as to get his attention..he'd come bouncing over and then i'd say "Marakai" in a happy go lucky voice and give him a treat, I did it over and over and he picked up his name very quickly.