Can you change a dog's name completely when they are about three months old?

They will adapt quite quickly.

Oh thanks @syz . And while I have you here, any experience with mini-labradoodles?

You can change a dog’s name anytime and they will soon learn the new name.

@janbb What the heck is a mini-labradoodle? If it’s what it sounds like, I sure the bitch is the lab, not the other way around.

The labradoodle craze is a pet peeve of mine (as well as all of the other cutesy-named mixes). It’s a mixed breed dog that people are paying up to $1500 for. You can afford a whole hell of a lot of mixed breed dogs from the shelter for that amount of money.

They are pretty cute, sweet dogs with an incredibly high energy level – probably 29 out of 30 or so that I have met have been goofy spazs. Many owners express frustration at poor training results – they’re smart (the dogs) but so energetic! Depending on the coat type (not all of them are curly poodle coats), they do tend to shed less that many other breeds, but many of them require regular grooming (like a poodle).

I know what the party line is re: adopting vs. designer but thanks for the extra info.

I have changed my dogs names after I adopted them. People name their dogs such crap names. All 3 were around the 2 year age range and they all took to their new names within a few days.

I worked with a fella named Josh. On a lark I decided that we should all start calling him Billy and it stuck. After this happened he came to work with a labradoodle he had named Harley. We had no problem getting this dog, 6 months old, to answer to the name Little Billy.

Of course. With animals it is ALL about repetition/consistency.
I have a 7 yr. old cat I adopted 2 years ago and kept his shelter name of “Myles.” Obviously the cat was at least 5 years old, maybe more, maybe a little less, but…he learned his new name within a few days. Easy.

Yes, dogs respond to any name you wish to use for them.

We adopted a dog who was probably between 3–5 years old (the owners said she was 2 but she wass clearly older) when we got her. She very quickly learned her new name, a complete non-issue.

Just to clarify things, a dog has no concept of having a name. What we call a name is just a signal to the dog that you want it to do something.

We bought an infant peekapoo puppy and named her Niki. After a few years, we sometimes referred to her by the nickname ‘The Pups’. After that, she always responded to either name, so I’m guessing, just like with people, a dog (at least a smart dog) can easily adapt to whatever they are called.

Kind of like Josh and Billy….

I don’t see any problem with it. My husband changes my nickname every few years I seem to respond.

^^^ LOL

Dead serious. There was a show on Everybody Loves Raymond about how Ray’s wife responded to anything he called her, we cracked up.

Everyone I know who has adopted dogs from the shelters (and that is almost all the dog owners) has had no problems. A few minutes with several pieces of cold cooked bacon or grilled chicken and the dog will allow you to call him/her anything.

After bringing him home from the shelter, my daughter changed our cat’s name to Milo by chasing him around the yard with cans of freshly opened tuna. Even he soon caught on.

@Milo here. I resent that “Even he….”

Sure. I rescued my Lab/Chow at 4 months and immediately changed her name from “Samara” to “Molly”. I considered “Sammy” for about two seconds, but didn’t like it and she had no problems learning to respond to the new name.

Re: labradoodles – one of the best dogs I know is a ‘doodle – huge sweetheart, obedient even as a pup, and submissive to my (slightly smaller) dog. He’s a goof, but not a spaz. Unless he manages to make it into the water – he’ll sit down in even a puddle and grin up at me and refuse to move. He is a second generation, if that makes any difference.

@wildpotato Thanks. The doodle – I know it is a ridiculous name – I am considering is a mini and she seems like a dear.

@wildpotato: Both my sister and @chyna renamed their doggies “Molly.”

@sdfndi . . . Hey! Supreme Lord Krishna here. Uh, you wanna knock the shit off? You’re kinda giving me a bad name . . .

it depends on how responsive they are when you say it. Some animals actually don’t like their names. My aunt once had a cat she named Peaches and whenever you called her that she freaked out. They ended up changing the name to just Kitty. Also, I shortened my Guinea Pigs name because she didn’t seem like she liked when you called her name.

Yes, you can. At first they will be kinda confused, but will soon learn to adapt quickly, but it depends, if your dog knows, and responds easily to his name now, then it will take longer then a dog, that barely remembers his name now.

Update: Frodo Baggins knew his new name by the second day he was here.

Of course he did. Look how intelligent he looks.

Intelligent but naughty!