Did You Change Your Dog's Name?

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.  If I figure a foster/newbie really does NOT like what they've been called at the shelter it gets changed.

Billy came as "Huggins" -- ewwww -- NOT for a pet therapy dog (why would you encourage strangers to squish the life out of your dog?? nope!) and Billy HATED it.  Billy is really short for "Bilbo" (and a hobbit who's quick, silent but has HUGE furry feets?  yep that's him!)

Kee Shu was likely "Kisshu" (there was a brother "meeshu" as in food? ugh) but I just could NOT envision my British husband going to the door and saying "Kissss-YOU" all over the neighborhood? nope - and she came to "kee" VERY willingly.

Luna was "LunaBella" and I know there are other Luna's and other "Bellas" on here but it was just such an ostentatious name for a vociferous hound mix!!  It quickly became "Luner B" or "Luney Tunes" or "Luna Tuna" (or Luna-tic).  Now *I* call her Belle upon occasion but that's MY nickname for her and Tink is never called that. 

Tink was Lulu -- and LuLu -- Luna -- my tongue just couldn't untangle that even just in email.  To MANY Luuuuuuuuuuuuu's --- Besides -- she's NOT a Lulu -- and she is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Tinkerbell it is scarey. 

 Ben was George ... and i have issues with that because George is so common a name for Bulldogs - like Max or Buddy etc.... not that Ben is any better right? lol but he was such a gentle lug aka Gentle Ben, or Benjamin or Benjii- which is what my mom calls him lol 

Kaydee was Petey.... as in "she looks like" ... even if she had been a boy i would have changed it for the same reasons i didnt like George. every black and white bulldog with an eye patch is called Petey around here.... DH and i argued and gave the silent treatment for about a week and a half before we settled on Kaydee. it still wasnt my first choice but it was better than his choice ... "DeeDee"

Amber was named Joy..... sorry but she is sooo not a joyful dog. she's a punk, and aggressive and "my way or the high way" and i had read somewhere that Amber means fierce ... which she is. so there you go. however if i had known then what i know now i would have named her cupcake since i believe in the whole Nomen est Omen thing.

Cadie didn't have a name when we got her. The breeder just called her "Pinky" since the ribbon she wore was the pink one. "Cadie" is an Irish variation of the name "Katie", and it fits her so well.

When I adopted Riley, his name was CARL. (shudder) Ok, in the shelter's defense, they did take in 20-30 puppies at one time but....Carl?? Really? Lol. Needless to say, I immediately began thinking of new names when he came home. Riley just fit him perfectly, and it is Irish as well.

No...I didn't when I had the chance...and I wanted to. But I am glad that I didn't.

When I got Bubblegum I didn't like her name...not at all. Nor did I understand it at all. When I asked her breeder where she got it..she said "her eyes...don't they remind you of Bubblegum?"   Huh???????  Ummmmmm not really. No..I didn't say that...I said "oh kind of...hahah."  But when push came to shove....I couldn't change it.....she was 3 yrs old....and I did not know a thing about her...and she didn't know a thing about me...I figued I didn't have to go making matters worse by changing the only thing she was used to in her new life.    In a couple of weeks,,, her name grew on me....and in a couple more weeks...I loved her name.  I never did get the "eyes" thing....she had one brown eye..and her other eye was half brown and half blue....nothing about bubblegum........ but she was my Bubblegum...she was unique and her name was unique.....so it worked.

In a few months after I had her and I joined her breeders Yahoo group...I found that Bubblegum had a daughter that was sent to Alaska...she was a beautiful show girl also...just like her mama....and her name is Jelly Bean.

 Kirby was Desert Storm called Stormy for short by his breeder.  I actually didn't mind his original name, but I still wanted to come up with my own name for him.  Played around with so many different names before finally settling on Kirby.  I was outside with him on his potty break when I decided on it.  At the time he was sucking up every snail on the walkway and spitting them out as he tested them for eatablity.  At that moment all I could think off was the little pink puffball Nitendo character named Kirby who's super power is his ability to eat his enemies and claim their powers.  Even though it seemed to fit perfect, I almost refused to use it because I remembered a Papillon named Kirby had just won one of the huge dog shows a few years back (appeared on talk shows and everything) and the last thing I wanted was people to think I got specifically got a papillon because I saw that dog. XP

Avery was named Sarah. I thought it was too human-like and too boring.

Fenton was Text (wtf?). There was NO way that was staying.

Quinton was Chase. I just simply don't like the name.

Harmony was Duchess. It just didn't suit her, IMO.

Penny's name was GoGo when we got her. What the heck, right? She was owned by a Chinese couple supposedly and apparently GoGo means Penny in Chinese. We started to just call her Penny when we fostered her and it just stuck. I wanted to change it, but it was too late.

Daisy's name was DEBBIE when we got her. I h-a-t-e-d that name with a passion. I have no idea who names a Chihuahua Debbie. My dad had his heart set on Daisy. I don't particularily like it, but by gosh, he wanted her to be a Daisy. hehe I really liked the name Bella, but no one else seemed to agree with me.

Shadow was named that on his purchase papers. And I have never changed it. It seemed to fit, especially when he was younger with his dark colors. He has four colors, black, brown, red, and white (undercoat). But my whispering nickname for him is Pretty Boy.

Jade was a 4.5 month old stray hanging around a friend's house and sleeping under her old Chrysler New Yorker. Her daughter had called the cat Chi (chee). I have no idea how they got that name. Anyway, her resident cat wouldn't tolerate this one in the house. So, I walked Shadow over there to see if he could be friends with her. He immediately sniffed and threw a play bow. Which freaked her out. So, I took Shadow home and came back. By this time "Ch" was in a tree. So, I had to get the gloves on and pluck her from the tree. We noticed that her eyes were green, the same shade as Jade. I mentioned it here and everyone latched onto that name so, we kept it. And so she is Jade, a white Turkish Angora, with jade green eyes.

Frosty was named Jimminy by the breder...his littermate was Cricket...I like the name as a combo, but Jimminy on it's own doesn't make sense, so he became Frosty....my daughter picked out his name.

Shiner was named Grady at the shelter and re-named Enzo by the rescue. DH didn't like Grady, and both of us hated Enzo, so he became Shiner after his black eye.

Our cat Muffin was named Turbo by her previous owner...they thought she was a boy???

All my others were unnamed when I got them, at least that I know of.

 DH and I got Honor as a puppy, so we chose her name.  Nike was "Pluto" when we got him, and it didn't fit at ALL.  He just...is not a Pluto.  And Eli was named by his breeder, and it suits him so we left it.

dyan, I am CRACKING UP!  His eyes looked like Bubblegum? Huh?  Sooo funny. Cute name though, I really like it!

 Sophie came with her name. She was only four months old and it would have been easy enough to change it. Before getting her we had all sorts of plans to change her name, I really liked "Sable" but once I met her, she just looked like a Sophie. It fits her. Wouldn't have been my first choice, it's soooo common, but I don't hate it either.

Cruiser- yeah we totally changed his name. His foster mom was calling him "Kid Rock". Nope, wasn't going to do it, even for a day. My children actually came up with Cruiser. I LOVE it, I've never met another Cruiser and it totally fits his personality. I think it's the perfect name for him!

Chyna has always been Chyna.

Bevo, was "Puppy" when he came to me.  His papered name includes Las Vegas, & I'm a University of Texas alum, so Bevo Las Vegas it was!  Stangely, I only call him Bevo when I'm annoyed with him.  Otherwise, I call him Buttah.  Think "butter" with a long southern drawl.

Brinxx was nameless when I got her.

Shooter was "Cocoa".  After he recovered from parvo, a friend picked him up & Shooter shot pee all over him.  He yelled "We've got a Shooter!"  The name stuck.

Schatzi was named when she came to us.  I don't love the name, but it fits her.

BEVOLASVEGAS

I'm a University of Texas alum

I didn't graduate but I was going to UT at Arlington in 1982. So, I'm a Longhorn, too. And have a ready supply of Aggie jokes.

Astra was nameless when we got her. Not even a color. That should've been a clue right there she wasn't handled much... Part of her registered name is "A Star", thats how we got Astra.

Brianna's mom was dumped at the shelter pregnant. A foster mom took care of her and raised the pups to 8 weeks then they were transported to the rescue I was working with. All the pups were "puppy". It took me 2 full days to figure out their names. So I named Brianna and Brandon.

Tina came into the rescue as Christina. We changed it to "Athena" But that didn't stick, she was too soft and cuddly.

Kali was "bugaboo" yeah... I couldn't change that fast enough. (My sweet little 25lb corgi looking mix was supposed to be easily 60lb aussie/lab mix)

Frankie's name we didn't change. His former owner was fostering him and only gave him up because she was pregnant. It suits him, he's just a happy go lucky boy.

I would only change a dog's name when they came into rescue if there was any chance of bad memories associated with that name. I noticed though, if a dog was returned to us, the new owner had changed their name. We would usually change it back to the rescue name.

Spike was named Kirby in the shelter.  On our way home with the kids we told them to pick out a boys name and after a 3yr old and 5yr old put much thought into it we came up with Spike! This of course was AFTER names like Doggie, Boy, and Spiderman! LOL!