Name Change

I was thinking about how I wanted to approach this and it reminded me that I haven't posted some information I intended to. So let me start by saying the Central Missouri Humane Society has been overwhelmed lately and is looking for foster homes. I'll have more information about that up shortly, but consider fostering if you have the space and desire to help out.

That being said, we're also seeing a lot of dogs coming in that have been recently adopted. (Reminder that dogs who have been adopted from a non-profit get a 50% discount on self-serve washes within the first 30 days of adoption.) Some of the dogs get a name change with their new life, so I wanted to give a few tips to make this go smoothly and quickly.

Remember that all good things should come from you. A dog will come to you more consistently if it is a good thing. For example, when you take your dog to the park, call him, praise him, and then let him go back to playing, sniffing, or whatever. About the fourth or fifth time you call him, he is much more likely to come so you can put the leash on him and go home. Hearing his name and coming to you is not always a bad thing. So his name becomes a good thing.

When you want to change a dogs name, there are two easy ways to do this. First is just simply using the name. Every time you interact with the dog, use his new name. Not sweety, or silly or good boy (unless that his name). Without getting into the science of this, he should quickly learn that this is his new name. This worked for both our dogs, Lambert and Cletus... I mean Puck and Duncan.

The second way you can do this is more of a classical training (or respondent conditioning) technique. Say the dog's new name. When he looks at you, give him a treat. Repeat this until he looks at you quickly and consistently. After he looks at you without hesitation about five times you can start to fade the treat. Give the treat every second or third time. eventually you can fade the treat completely. I would have every member in the family do this so the dog learns to respond to everyone.

If this goes slow at first, back up in the procedure a little. Say the dog's old name. As soon as he looks at you, say the new name. Repeat this a few times until he understands the new name means treat, then go to the steps in the previous paragraph.

Again, until he responds consistently to his new name, you want to avoid using "pet" names (pun intended) for him, just to avoid confusion.