We adopted a neglected/abused 3 year old dog at a shelter. He was named Quinn & our children wanted to call him Elliott. They called him Elliott for 2 days and he no longer responded to Quinn. Elliott is a fantastic & well loved dog now.

We got our dog from a rescue when he was about a year old. He came with a few names that were noted in his records (from the local pound, the rescue and the foster family he was with). We didn't like any of the names so we came up with our own. We also don't think that any of the names he came with were his for very long and he didn't seem to respond to any of them.

We have two cats. Changed their names. One responds to his new name and old name. One responds to nothing, LOL.

Our first pug's original name was Diamond. We could not call her that with a straight face, so we changed it to Daisy. She adapted very quickly although she was already 6 years old. She's an extremely smart dog though; she even knows that "pug" means her.
Our second pug's original name was Spike (they let their kids name him...). We changed it to Max. He also adapted very quickly at 8 months old. Unfortunately he never really got much smarter than that.

Have a rescue dog from GA, had him transported to our home in Alexandria. My DC was 4 at the time, and his favorite show was Max and Ruby - he named the 1 yr. old hound Max. Perfect name and he took to it immediately, like the first day. He was given a # at the shelter, not a name.

Anonymous wrote:There's a school of thought that if you adopt a dog who was abused or neglected or otherwise had a bad life previously, you SHOULD change its name because of the bad associations the dog has with its old name.

We changed it. Our dog was rescued and abused. She went on to live a wonderful life with us.

I believe the name we were told was her shelter name (not her original name) and most times the shelter changes the name anyway.

Her name was originally "Morticia." Great cat name, I guess. But, awful for this loving, fluffy faced dog.

Changed it.

We rehomed a year old English bulldog and changed his name. We hated the name AJ so we named him Ari. He learned his name within a day. 2 years later, if you say AJ- he doesn't even acknowledge you.

We rehomed a year old English bulldog and changed his name. We hated the name AJ so we named him Ari. He learned his name within a day. 2 years later, if you say AJ- he doesn't even acknowledge you.

Anonymous wrote:I have two - kept the names. Just didn't think it right to change them. Come to think of it, changing the name of a sailboat is said to bring ominously bad luck....

It is also ominously bad luck to set sail on a Friday, e.g. Flying Enterprise did both.

We kept it. He was from a loving family and the name suited him.

I changed the name of a young puppy but not the 10 year old dog we adopted. Though the 10 year old dog goes by a nickname half the time and she responds to it. Her old owner called her the same nickname.

We got a rescue dog but one that a friend had had for 2.5 years. We weren't crazy about the name but kept it since she was older. Now it seems to suit her.

Of the four dogs I've adopted, two got new names, one got a nickname based on the previous name, and one kept her old name.

Adopted an adult dog who had been named by the rescue organization -- I don't believe it was her pre-rescue name (if she ever had one) and she didn't seem to respond to it. We changed it and she learned her new name within a couple days.