RP about 1st time dog owner

Yay, we've got more and more Mini Schnauzer lovers joining!  My sister adopted two Miniature Schnauzers and she changed both of their names with no problem.  One was about 8 years old when she adopted her and my sister couldn't stand the name (Prissy).  The other came from the shelter and we never knew what his previous name was. 

A good friend of mine works in Schnauzer rescue and she's fostered Minis of all ages and backgrounds and with a little patience and lots of positive reinforcement, she's been able to housebreak and crate train them all in a relatively short amount of time.  

Good luck, and thanks so much for giving this little girl a better life.  Mini Schnauzers are definitely NOT outside dogs. 

I think you can definitely train a dog to be inside and she will love you for it!  You have to be patient, but you can teach it!
 
As for name changing, Zoe was Maya when I got her and for a day I called her Maya-Zoe and eventually dropped the Maya and she knew Zoe.  She was 2 yrs. old when I got her too!

Congrats on your new pup!  Okay 2 y/o pup. )  I adopted Aspen when he was 5.5 y/o.  I changed his name with no problem.  It went from Espn (gak) to Aspen.  You can definitely train the new dog just remember 2 important things....patience & consistancy. 
A small example: when I got Grady he had been kep in a crate most of the day & night.  He hated my crate.  I made it as comfortable as I could for him & covered it with a blanket.  By some fluke I found out that he went nuts for skettis & meatballs.  So with the help of Chef Boyardee I got him to realize that the crate is not a bad place.  He now sleeps peacefully in it @ night & even goes into it if he needs some quiet time.
Good luck & post pictures ASAP! []\
 

We do Scottish Terrier Rescue, basically when we get a new dog in it's just like a puppy, we do a lure-reward when it comes to names. We make a noise to get "Lucky"s attention and call "Max here" and he gets a treat. personally I feel that adding Lucky-Max is a bit confusing but I am a natural blonde so it's a short trip for me anyway!
 
      heheh Congrats on the new dog, for crate time I always suggest a Kong and peanut butter but it's a lil rough on the beard so you might want to get some biscuits that are large enough to be a bit of a challenge to get out.
    
     As far as the re-training for housebreaking, treat her just like a puppy, take her outside before you let her out in the house from her crate, if she does not potty back into the crate she goes. No house time goes unsupervised. FORTUNATELY she should not need to go out as often ( every 4 hours or so )
If anything is unclear feel free to PM me.... I'm not always as articulate as I would like to be!
 
Kate

Yay!  Good for you for adopting!
As far as changing names, I don't think that should be a problem at all.  I've actually read somewhere that changing a dog's name helps it to adjust to its new life.  They leave the old name behind, just as they have left their old life.
 
A lot of shelters get dogs, don't know their names, change them, then when they come out of the shelter, their name gets changed again (the shelter name may not have been their name for too long, depending on how long they've been there).
 
I don't have any advice about house training, but good luck, and we can't wait to see photos!

Also, This is prob. a dumb question, but can you rename a 2 yr old dog? Or will it just confuse it?
Thank you in advance for all your help!

Dogs don't connect the name as much as they do the voice expression used to say it. I call my dogs different names all the time!i'll say something like, "hey baby girl", they respond to it just like if i were to say Maddie, Rosey, or Simba.