When I adopt a dog, is it OK to change his or her name?

[hedgehog]

We may be going to adopt a year old black Pomeranian mix next week. My husband has fond memories of his family's Pomeranian mix named Brownie. The obvious choice is to name this dog Blacky. What do you think?

[geardaddy]

1. Yes.

We changed our adopted dog's name. We didn't like "Tia" so we changed it to "Audrey"

[XemaSab]

12. Hepburn, Horne, or other?

:shrug: :D

[geardaddy]

18. Just Audrey.

It was either that or Fiona. She just looked like an Audrey to us.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Ask the dog.

:P
If you start calling him Blacky I'm sure he'll figure it out.

[sakabatou]

3. My dog before my family got him was named Max

We changed his name to Hank.

[Arugula Latte]

4. If you were at a dog park and yelled "Come here, Max!" about half the dogs would come running.

[sakabatou]

7. It's like my name.

"Hey Mike!" 6 guys turn their heads.

[CreekDog]

13. And if you yell "Hank" a bunch of guys come running

:D

[XemaSab]

20. Don't name a dog Bailey either

:P

[Arugula Latte]

23. Yep. We've got one of those next door.

:)

[CreekDog]

5. Yes, it's okay. Before I inherited him from my grandmother my cat's name was "Boy"

:eyes:

changed that. he wasn't even two yet. :rofl:

[Inchworm]

6. That's the difference between dogs and a sig. other

Dogs don't really care if you call them by another's name :D

:hi:

[flvegan]

8. Absolutely.

[hedgehog]

10. Thanks - any advice for getting Guinness calmed down for the meet and greet?

Guinness is my 3 1/2 year old Beagle/Shepherd mix who gets nervous when he goes places without his protector Jack. I took him out for a little ride the other night to try to get him used to the car, but there isn't much time before we will have to drive about half an hour to meet the new dog at the foster mother's home. The new dog is a year-old Pomeranian/Spitz/Sheltie mix (that's a wild guess) about half Guinness' size. Both dogs are neutered males.

[flvegan]

14. I'd keep trying car rides whenever you can.

If you can get your hands on some Rescue Remedy, that might help.

Also, if the foster dog has been at this house for a while, I always have the dogs meet someplace absolutely neutral, like down the street (on leashes, of course). Then bring them back to the yard/house. That way, everyone is on even ground and there shouldn't be any kind of dominance issues.

Good luck!

[Coyote_Bandit]

9. I adopted a dog named Ducky

Seems that the marking in his coat resembled a silhouette of a duc. Still, you can't explain that to a 3 year old. Yes, we changed the name. No problem.

Before that I had adopted a puppy mill rescue that had not been socialized, was nearly a year old and had never been inside a building. In retrospect, I don't think he knew what a name was. We tried out several names before he responded to a name and that one stuck. It wasn't really a name it was a term of endearment used by my mother.

[XemaSab]

11. Sure

I changed my dog's name when we got her.

All respect to Barack and Michelle, but Myleah/Malia is not to my taste. :P

[malta blue]

15. sure!

Luna's name was Daisy at the pound.

Sapa was Tangerine.

Zeus was Payday.

[whistler162]

16. Well if you call the dog Brownie....

after it does its business you can say "Heck, of a job Brownie!"

[hedgehog]

17. I just remembered - yesterday I promised to name a pet Khan.

I might save that name for a cat, though.

Step on a hairball and yell out "Khaaaaaan!"

[Sheltiemama]

19. My vet said you should.

Which is how Toby became Drew at the age of 1 year, four months. I wanted to name him in honor of our previous boy, Andy. Andrew was one of his nicknames, especially when he was being silly. Drew didn't care what we called him, as long as we called him, and was responding to it by the second day we had him.

[jane_pippin]

21. Sure. My dog was 2.5 yrs old with a terrible name when I adopted him. Now he has

the best name ever. He learned it pretty quickly too.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

22. Yeah, we changed both our dogs names

Mick was "Ace" and Beag (Beck) was "Mandy."

Both picked up their new names that first night.

[Critters2]

24. Yeah. I changed the beagle's name. She seems none the worse for it.

My first beagle had been named "Spartacus" by the Humane Society. It was such a great name, largely because it seemed like a real misnomer for such a goofy little hound. So, of course, I kept it!