changing a dog's name

My foster Dixie has found herself a new home. She'll stay with me a while longer until her new family moves into their new place and in the meantime we'll keep learning about being a real dog and just enjoying life.

They want to change her name from Dixie to Dani/Dany. I don't care, at all. She only recently started responding to Dixie anyways. I just treated it as I would if giving an old behavior a new cue. New cue, old cue, c/t. I tend to call her Dan more than anything now though... because that's girly!

Stryker became Ruca without an issue.

I know Cody became Crossbone, I assume without issue as well!

Opinions? Would you change a dog's name if it had one previously?

Piglet was Montana when we got her. They named her after the street she'd been hit by a car on. WAS NOT keeping that. UGH. She transitioned to Piglet easily.

Bridget's name was Jessie. I just... didn't like it for a dog, so we changed it after we got her. She transitioned well too. Both dogs are 3+ years (ish).

Bobsie was Bobbie (yeah, added an S, LOL, Bobby was the name of the man who raped me as a child) She was round eight we we adopted her, transition was easy but we also just added a sound to it.

Just be consistent with it and it should be fine.

I've kept some dogs' names and changed others...
Pip was Freckles, which I didn't care for
Maisy was Roxie - no way no how, her immediately predecessor was Roxy
Roxy was originally Rocky (?!), which I sort of tried to keep similar-ish
Desire, Chessie, and Squash kept the names they came with

Although mine have always had a bunch of nicknames and they pretty much respond to most of them, so I don't think it's critical.

I've both changed and kept names, and my dogs respond to certain frequent nicknames as well (though not in the same way as their real name). No biggie.

Arnold was "Babazu".
Shamoo was "Taboo".
Backup was "Aldo".

I've also renamed several fosters, it's never been an issue and always felt right.

Happy was always Happy. I had no desire to change it just because it felt... right. Plus it reminded me of 7th Heaven which was like, my fave show as a kid. Of course with a deaf dog it doesn't really matter since she has no clue what her name is anyway, but if I would have disliked the name, I'd have no hesitation changing it.

We kept Molly's name when we got her, too. I think mostly just because we couldn't agree on what to change it to.

Sure thing! We just changed Jason's Border Collie from Huck Finn to Robin Hood. We've had him his whole life and changed it at one year old...because it suits him better lol

Ma'ii originally came to us as Marlin, and I CRINGED everytime I said his name, because it sounded too close to my uncle's name, Merlin. Still, we kept the name for about several months, because he already knew it, and because I had some illogical notion that it was wrong to rename a dog who already had a name.

Then one day, while talking about it with my husband, a good point was raised. We had named Charlotte when she came to us as a stray. Charlotte most likely was NOT her original name, yet she didn't give a flying whoop. He was MY dog now, and I had the right to call him what I wanted. So I renamed him Ma'ii (Muh-ee), which means "coyote" in Navajo. It fits him soooooo much better then "Marlin"!

laika was originally mushu the first day i got her then like the 3rd day she became maddalynn rose then a few months ago i realized laika fit her better so now her name is laika lou.
jayson was just called puppy at the BYB's house then when i got him at 12 weeks old he was and always will be jayson lee(yes i give them middle names lol)

Saga was Shiloh. She responded better to Saga.

Nico was originally Sonic, until he was 9 months old, them he was adopted and renamed Knuckles. When he came back and I knew he was going to be mine, he got to be Nico. He's been fine with it. (Though I'm still not sure how I came up with Nico, it's never been on any of my name lists...)

Our dogs are rarely addressed by their names anyway especially bodhi. I usually call her Tronic at the moment LOL.

Bodhi to boogie to boogatron to boogatronic to tronic. We tend to call her boogie a lot too...

Fred is often Fred. Occasionally Freddie and quite often Frederick when he's naughty we also call him big boy and brown dog, or brown baby lol.

They respond to all

I don't think I'd have issue changing a name, but I probably wouldn't unless I really hated it.

Both of mine got their names changed, although to be fair, I don't think either really knew their original name.

Meg was named Spice. Since she was an owner surrender, I assume it was actually her name, not given at the rescue. She also had never been inside a house, and I doubt anyone was talking to her and teaching her the name. She didn't even look up when you called it.

Gusto didn't really have time to learn a name. The rescue called him Gonzo, the foster home (where he spent the most time before I got him) just called him Puppy. He didn't get named for probably close to a week once I got hm. He was just Puppy or Pup-Pup.

Really, a name is just another cue to a dog. I don't think changing it matters, although it would feel very weird to me once I'd had a dog a while.

Mia was Gayla. I got her at 14 weeks and hated the name. Plus the only short form I could think of was 'Gay' and er.... So it was changed.

Summer was Summer when I got her. I kept the name even though I have a cousin I see pretty often/am close with named Summer too. Summer was almost 4 when I got her and I'd known her since she was 3 months old. It would have been weird to change her name. Plus it fits her so well.

Nard was originally 'Sharpie' in his litter because as a pup his blaze was almost a mismark so we said he'd have to have it colored in with Sharpie. Then it got changed to 'Bernard' when he got a little older because he was such a FAT puppy (which is hilarious because we can't put weight on him now) and his ears stayed dropped a lot longer than the others. So we thought he looked like a Saint Bernard. He gets called Nard most the time now though.

Rose was 2 years old and named Rose when we got her. It fit very well, but I had already had a sheltie named Rosie. We decided it was okay and kept Rose because really... there is no dog more suited to the name Rose than Rose is.

The one I really wish we'd renamed (and the entire family did too) was Trey. It wasn't a bad name but it just never really fit him at all. He needed to be named something dopey like Buddy. He got called Buddy probably as often as Trey.

I think I've had to change the name of every dog that's come through. Some weren't bad names, but they just didn't fit. The breakdown goes as follows
Argon: was Fred
Gambit: was Jonathan
Quiddich:was Quanda
Otter Wee Boots: was weenie
Fawn: was Joy
Shiva:was Cinderella
Cheshire : was Precious
Dick Cheney: was Chunky Monkey

They were all between 10 weeks and 5 years when renamed and they all adapted wonderfully

Radar was originally Oscar
Duke was originally Dwayne (ugh, hate that name!)
No problems at all changing their names.

Yay for Dixie!!! Err...Dani!!!

Crossbone was Scooter, Cody, Gator, Cody then Crossbone!! No issues at all and he picked it up reeeeally fast. We still call him Cody in public sometimes and lots if variations of Crossbone and he seems to like it.

I don't think it matters. Elsie was Harriet until she was eight weeks old, and the transition was seamless, and now responds to her billion nicknames just as well as she does to Elsie.

I've done it for the ferrets without issue, and wouldn't have second thoughts on changing a dogs name

Renegade was Gridd - changed at (almost) 3 years old
Rogue was Nyx - changed at (almost) 5 years old
Ella was Bella - changed at 7/8 months
Nacho was Marley - changed around 5 1/2 years old
Rascal and Harley both kept their names!

Boo was Lucy Lu - yeah that had to change.

I don't see an issue with it. Far far bigger things to worry about. I had a foster once named Stud Muffin... I don't blame the new owner one bit for changing that name.

IMO Names don't carry the same identity/weight as they do with humans. To most dogs I think, their names just mean "come here" "food" "attention" "the people want me"
So new life almost always meant new name for dogs/pets in my life.

Merlin was Duke. Which suit him very much, especially after following the litter since birth and calling him that, but I think he is SUCH a Merlin now. and I like the name better so I changed it.