[Crazie.Eddie]

My neighbor just got a dog from the shelter. I told her about this forum, since the members provide excellent advise and experiences. Unfortunately, she's (my neighbor) is not computer/internet savvy, so I thought I'd ask the question for her. My neighbor doesn't like the dog's name and wanted to rename her. The dog is about 2 years old. How does she go about renaming the dog? Does she just use commands like "Lucky no", "Lucky sit", so eventually, the dog associates itself with the name Lucky? Should she wait a week/month or so for the dog to get accustomed to the new owner/home?

[Dakota Spirit]

In my experience - most shelter dogs haven't a clue as to what their name is. Unless it was an owner surrender, the dog was given his name upon arrival and likely wasn't there long enough for it to sink in. Even if it had, dogs adapt pretty well - so I'd say to start the switch right away.

However, I'd caution against starting commands with the dog's name. It's ok from time to time, but I wouldn't add his name as a prefix to every command. Not only will this mess up later down the road (Instead of having to say sit, you could end up needing to say "Lucky Sit" every time) but it's not necessary. You can however, use it a lot in praise. When the dog does good, get really excited and say things such as "Good boy Lucky!" etc.

[RonE]

Does she just use commands like "Lucky no", "Lucky sit"

She will have the best luck with, "Lucky, here's your breakfast" or "Lucky, let's go for a ride in the car" or "Lucky, let me rub those ears for you."

I renamed a nine-year old stray and it took her about 15 minutes to learn her new name. ("Brandy, let's go to McDonalds.") Good thing, too, 'cause I later learned her old name and I didn't like it.

[Aussiefan]

Like Dakota said, most shelter dogs don't know there names anyway. My BC i adopted from the shelter i volunteer at was a owner surrender so he knew his name, it was "mo" i didn't like it at all, he is a crazy BC that i was ( and will) planning on competing in agility so he needed a faster name, and with his split black and white face i named him Zipper, but i call him Zip for short. It only took a few days for him to start recognizing his name so it gets picked up quickly. I just used it for things like Ron mentioned. I didn't do any obedience with him for the first week, i just wanted him to get used to the change, but like Dakota said, in obedience i try to avoid using the dogs name before a command except for the "heal" and "come" commands.

[Crazie.Eddie]

Thanks I'll pass the info along to my neighbor.

Originally Posted by Dakota Spirit

However, I'd caution against starting commands with the dog's name. It's ok from time to time, but I wouldn't add his name as a prefix to every command. Not only will this mess up later down the road (Instead of having to say sit, you could end up needing to say "Lucky Sit" every time) but it's not necessary. You can however, use it a lot in praise. When the dog does good, get really excited and say things such as "Good boy Lucky!" etc.

Would using the name and command be ok in a household with 2 dogs?