GREAT NEWS!!!! IM SOOO EXCITED!!

[Amber]

I like that - and by the way, DeeOhGee is on a different forum I'm on...not this one.

[Kellynbobellen]

ok, the retaining seems simple enough thanks!!  I was worried that it would be too difficult for the dog to transition over or something!  But, I am really not that concerned about the name, I am willing to live with a lot.  But I think if someone named the dog DeeOhGee or god I might have to change it lol

[Amber]

One of our dogs came from my aunt and uncle who bred him, sold him, then the family moved and they returned him to the breeder.  Unfortunately, he fought with their other dogs, so they passed him on to us because our dog had recently passed away and this was his nephew and grandson of the one we had before that.  Wow, that was a long, confusing, pointless story.  Anyway, his name when we got him was Snoopy.  Which would have been okay if he was a beagle, but he was a Shetland Sheepdog.  We decided to change his name, but were told it had to be something similar, so we made it "Sparky."

Maigee was named Tellula(h) by the shelter where I got her (and yes, the h was optional, on some of her papers, not on others).  Obviously she hadn't been named that for long, she was picked up on January 30 and I brought her home on February 7.  Prior to that, who knows what her name was.  She adjusted to her new name very quickly though.  Well, once she got over her kennel cough.  Before that, she didn't respond to much at all.  And now she responds to various random nicknames that have stuck over the past few years.  The ones I can think of right now are Dog, Squeak/Squeaker/Squeaky, Mag, Fluff Butt (this is a new one).  If I remember right, Kirsten convinced Cole that his name was Fruit Loop (or some similar cereal brand).  So it isn't really that hard to change names, but like Magestaff said, they may still respond to similar names to their previous one.

[Magesteff]

SO far all of the dogs I have grown up with or owned seemed to know when I or other family members were having a conversation about the pet, even if the pet's name was not mentioned. The dog sisn't have to be looking at us even.

Example: Dog would be lying on couch/floor/ chewing on a toy and my brother would nudge me and say "Look at him isn't he so cute." Not pointing or otherwise indicating dog. Dog would start wagging tail. I'd say something back to my brother about how cute dog wsa. Dog would then look over and wag his tail and smile (yes, I believe that dogs can smile when thye are happy. Dog may then come over to somene for a scratch, or a dog biscuit.

[FartherStars]

SO far all of the dogs I have grown up with or owned seemed to know when I or other family members were having a conversation about the pet, even if the pet's name was not mentioned. The dog sisn't have to be looking at us even.

Example: Dog would be lying on couch/floor/ chewing on a toy and my brother would nudge me and say "Look at him isn't he so cute." Not pointing or otherwise indicating dog. Dog would start wagging tail. I'd say something back to my brother about how cute dog wsa. Dog would then look over and wag his tail and smile (yes, I believe that dogs can smile when thye are happy. Dog may then come over to somene for a scratch, or a dog biscuit.

The same thing happens with our cat. We got her as a rescue and they thought she was 4 years old. They wouldn't have known her previous name and called her Fancy. We started calling her Pootz/Pootz Cat etc (strange, I know) and she definitely knows it. Didn't take her long at all, and she definitely knows when you're talking about her. Maybe we use a different tone of voice.

[latopla]

I once had a cat named Somewhere because when he was a kitten we sometimes couldn't find him so my ex would ask, "where is the cat?" and I would reply, "somewhere."  The name just stuck.