im adopting a dog thats going to be turning a yr. old will I be able to change his name or no?

Answer 1

YES! Even if the pup already knows his name it is very easy to change it. Just use his new name when you pet him and love on him. Say his name and give him a treat. Talk to him. He will pick up that his "name" is his signal to pay attention to you. If you want to make the transition easier for him, choose a new name with the same begining sound. Like if the name is Daphne, use a new name like Dasiy. Just use the new name a lot in the begining, and use the name in conjunction with happy things....like treats, affection, playtime and dinner. Most dogs pick up their name within a week.

Answer 2

Yes and no. I would think a lot of it would be dependent on how trained the dog is. If its a very trained dog, it may take him a long time, especially if he's used to hearing commands such as ", sit!" or ", speak!" or whatever tricks he knows. At a year old, though, I think if you are persistant enough, you should be able to get him to reassociate another word as his name. You'll have to be persistant, though, because it'll be a lot like teaching a puppy what its name is, and sometimes that can take a while. It only took our collie mix two days to learn her name, but it took our boxer/lab mix about a week (even though he had already learned other tricks by that point, like "sit!" and "down!".) to assosiate his name with himself.

Remember, repetition is the key! Use the dogs new name every time you talk to him, and avoid using his old name, even if he's bad. This will just confuse him. All the best luck!

Answer 3

Yes, you should have no problem giving your dog a new name. We have two dogs one which was a rescue dog and they each have 2-3 nicknames. For example the black lab's name is Mollie but she will also come to the nickname "pig".With enough repetition a dog will learn it's new name. I also have found that treats -- the positive association work well.

When we adopted our boxer (she was abused) we considered changing her name because we thought maybe she had negative association with the name. This was about 3 months after we had her. The dog trainer told us we could but we decided to keep her name and just come up with a nickname. She now comes to stinky and her original name Kenya. =)

Have fun with your new dog!! Dogs are so much fun and such great companions.

Answer 4

Yes, dogs learn easy. I have fostered and rescued lots of dogs and changed all theirs names. The one you are adopting is still very young. You should have no problems it takes a little time, as does all training. The reward system works the best and alot of repetition

Answer 5

Oh yes. you can change her name. Just be consistent. That is, if her name is Brandi and you want to name her Jill, then always call her Jill. Use that as her command call - Jill, sit. Jill, heel etc.

If you use Brandi some times - and Jill other times, she'll get confused. Pick a name and stick with it.

Now then, be sure to take her to obedience class! Next to neutering/spaying, that's THE best thing you can do for and with your dog! Obedience!!!

Answer 6

I think it's ok to change his name as long as he doesn't recognize it already. If its a rescue dog, generally they name them becuase they come in with no information. If he does recongize his name, you could change to to something that sounds similar. I had an adopter change the name of one of my foster dogs from Arthur to Carter. It sounded similar enough that he never knew the difference.

Answer 7

Well since it's has THAT name then no but you could try but then the dog might get confused so I wouldn't since it's been with that name for like a year or so.

Answer 8

Well, it might be difficult but dogs are extremely smart and he or she should learn his new name. What is his name now? Think, is it really worth the stress and confusion it will cause your dog???? I am VERY proud of you for adopting!

Answer 9

Absolutely!

I got a dog when it was 2. I changed his name, and he learned his new name very fast.

But just make sure you don't confuse it! Make a name for it and then call it ONLY that name. It's as simpe as that...

I hope you enjoy your new dog!

Answer 10

Absolutely. My wife and I purchased a 1 year-4 month old German Shepherd (my avatar) named Jet...he's all black. I immediately changed his name to Titan and he took to it right away.