Re-name a stray/rescue with no name??

[jbecke91]

Hello - I recently rescued a 4 year old Jack Russell. He was a stray with no tags. The shelter called him Wishbone, typical right, which he did not and still dose not respond to. Are their any useful tips anyone can give to me which will help my new dog recognize his new name?

Thank you for any input

Jared

[KOPsarah]

hi jared, thanks for your post.
Dogs don't learn to recognize their actual name but instead the sound and tone of the name. For this reason a dog will often respond to words that rhyme with or sound similar to their name if said in the same tone. For this reason dogs have trouble learning long words like wishbone, the sound is to long and complicated to be remembered easily. You might like to try keeping wishbone as his 'official name' but using a shortened version as a 'nick name' that he can recognize although its quite a hard name to shorten, Wishy maybe? Alternatively you can try giving the dog a new name as often shelter animals have only heard the old one a few times at the shelter and thus can easily adjust to a new one with not too much confusion.

Hope this helps, enjoy your new pet.