Name my Dog

[darkcyd]

So, I am getting a dog in 2 days. The problem here is that I am white in Texas and the dog is from a local mexican family. She is a 5 year old bitch labrador/boxer mix. So, the problem is of course the dog only knows spanish phrases for fetch, lie down, come here etc. Also, she is named Coco. So the first thing I need is a new name. The 2nd thing is if anybody has any experience or advice for changing command words. Will fire a pic up when she gets down here.

[Whitney]

I like coco; I don't think it is necessarily hispanic either.

If you want to teach it a new name use it's name but sometimes call it other nicknames till it accepts the nickname.

My dog can't tell the difference between if I call for chompy or chompsky; so picking a similar starting sounding name to coco would be good...not sure what that would be though.

I'd also use both the spanish and english words until the dog becomes bilingual.


My cat corbu use to think his name was "baby kitty" till my husband taught him his real name (i kept calling him baby kitty and forgot that it was important to use his real name too)....so they can learn with repetition.

[Geisthund]

I've had dogs my entire life..I've had Shar-peis, Malamutes and right now I've got a mastiff mix that me and my wife rescued (Yogi) and an Affenpinscher/Chihuahua mix (Kaiser). I must say, with the dog being 5 years it might take a long while to break of her current commands...you could compromise and learn spanish? lol

[Tank]

You may as well stick with Coco it's a good two syllable bark. As to retraining find out what the Mexican commands are that Coco responds to. Mix the existing command with the new command for the same action so the dog associates the action with both commands the wean it off the Mexican version. It could take a while.

Although as already mentioned you could always use this as a great opportunity to learn Mexican, you'll have a willing audience to talk to!

[original_gender]

Name it Butt Dog or butt_dog – those are two good dog names, I think.

[xSilverPhinx]

Name it Butt Dog or butt_dog – those are two good dog names, I think.

Not a dog person?

[missedtheboat]

CoCo sounds pretty cute ;P You should keep it!

Also, Labradors are pretty smart, so I'm sure it would be pretty easy to get her to understand English..

Or you could learn some Spanish?  I think its neat to have a dog only know commands in another language.

Aren't police dogs trained only in german or something?

[original_gender]

Name it Butt Dog or butt_dog – those are two good dog names, I think.

Not a dog person?

I love a good pooch. I wouldn't want to care for one, but I like being around them. I think Butt Dog is a nice masculine name – it sounds vaguely Native American, too.

[Geisthund]

Always been a fan of clever names..name  it "d" "o" "g" just say the letter name, sounds like dyogi 

[xSilverPhinx]

Name it Butt Dog or butt_dog – those are two good dog names, I think.

Not a dog person?

I love a good pooch. I wouldn't want to care for one, but I like being around them. I think Butt Dog is a nice masculine name – it sounds vaguely Native American, too.

Are you Native American?

[fester30]

First we'll make dogs learn English.  Then we'll make everybody learn English.  It's a slippery slope.

[xSilverPhinx]

First we'll make dogs learn English.  Then we'll make everybody learn English.  It's a slippery slope.

Better English than Chinese.


Darkcyd, dogs are good associative learners, so you might want to use that to your advantage. You could try and wean her off Spanish command words by first getting her to perform the action in response to the Spanish and some sort of hand sign or body sign. You could then use the body sign in association with the English word. Or you could just start from scratch and teach her just the English word and associate it with the deisred actions. Smart dogs should have no problem with this, and trust me, if you have a tasty tit bit that you give her after she performs the action, she won't be wondering why the change of words for long, if at all. You'd have to spend a few minutes each day training her though, and maybe it's best if you focus on one command at a time for a span of only a few minutes. Use some positive reinforcement such as giving her a toy she wants each time she responds. Food treats are good, but labs have the genetic propensity to gain weight so maybe it's best to use those sparingly. Plus smart dogs learn how to manipulate pretty quickly, so she might be the type that would only do what you want if you have a treat. Yep, dogs can be spoilt like that...

If you want to change her name you might need some sort of attention grabber (tone of voice, for instance, along with whatever action her previous owners did such as tapping on the thighs to call her or clicking fingers) because she might not respond at first, since she wouldn't know that you're calling her in the first place. Eventually she will associate the new word for her but it's best if you remain consistent which means being on a no nickname basis.  

[Davin]

First we'll make dogs learn English.  Then we'll make everybody learn English.  It's a slippery slope.

Which leads to a totalitarion government destroying the American way of life, ending in a nuclear holocaust after which we're all left to wear spiked football pads, driving cars into eachother and having battles to the death in metal domes (the dome will later to be homaged to in a music video about loving the golden state).

But as somewhat of a limited consolation; pants are optional in this inevitable future.

[AnimatedDirt]

...to learn Mexican...

When did "Mexican" become a language?  Here I thought the language spoken in Mexico was Spanish.

[hismikeness]

...to learn Mexican...

When did "Mexican" become a language?  Here I thought the language spoken in Mexico was Spanish.

It's actually just Mexin. Or, more condensed, Mex'n.