Winnie is Getting A Brother! Help us decide if we should rename him or not....

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Winnie is getting a brother! He's a "semi rescue"- a family that loved him, but didn't have the time or resources to take care of him properly. He is 2.5 years old and was with his first family for a little over 2 years before they decided that with having a toddler and a baby on the way, the dog had to go. The second family took him in out of the goodness of their hearts without really "thinking it through." They are strapped financially already, and now THEY have an unexpected baby coming as well. He has been with them for 3 months. He is a happy boy, but his coat is in bad shape from complete lack of grooming. Poor guy! We are going to be his LAST family!! We are childless and my eggs have long dried up. :-)

We met him on Monday and he is an absolute Love Bug. Winnie and him get along beautifully, too. Karen (Karen and Jackdoodle) has been helping me to take the proper steps (full vet records, researching the family, timing of the grooming, etc.) to help make it a safe transition into our home. Thank you SO MUCH!

His name is Bauer. It is an "OK" name, but not one that I would ever choose for a dog. So my question is this- for those of you that have taken in a "re homed" dog, did you keep the name or change it? And, how did you come to that decision? 

Here is a pic of the big (70lbs!) love. After stop at the groomers, we bring him home on Friday- I can hardly wait!!  :-)

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Congratulations!!! He is a beauty! If you don't like the name, I say change it. I probably would not have said that a few years ago however, when we got Lucy from the breeder, she was nearly 4 years old. Her name was Brice and we just happen to have a nephew named Brice so I did not want to be her confused with him. I will tell you that it did not take long for her to adjust to her name. Even now, sometimes I will say it to her just to see if she will give me a better reaction for a photo. She does not react at all. I don't think they have the same attachments to names as we do. All of mine have nick names that they will also respond to.

Annie is my newest foster dog and she was living on the streets for months without a name. She has learned her new name very quickly.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

He is a beauty.  Thank you for taking him into your home and heart forever.  No advice on name change.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

He's darling! And he's a lucky boy to finally be getting his forever home! 

I like "Bauer", it's different and easy to say, (or call out when training). But I'm usually the oddball with names, lol. Personally, if I were getting him, I might change it to "Bowser", lol, but I'm probably the only one here who likes that. :)

I had to change Jack's name from "Jake", because my grandson is Jacob. He was 14 months old when I got him, and I wanted to stay with something that sounded similar. He had no trouble with the name change at all. 

[Amy and Annabelle]

Years ago I rescued a Golden Retriever. I had no idea what his original name was. He was estimated to be 1.5 years old when we got him. He had no problem learning his new name. I say change it if you don't like it, he will respond to it. He is a gorgeous dog.

Annabelle has nicknames to, and she responds to all of them. She does know when I say Annabelle, I mean business.

Congratulations on your new family member. You gave me a good chuckle with the dried up eggs comment.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Congratulations on your beautiful boy.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Congratulations.  Here is my take on it.  IF you know the dog's name, if the dog has had it for years, I would either keep the name or tweak it just a bit. Its the familiar for him. Bauer is pretty cool I think, not a name I would have thought of, but one that is easy to say and unusual.  I'd keep it.  And Winnie and Bauer are different enough that each dog WILL know when you call their name or give a command.

That being said, we got Clancy when he was two.  He was from a shelter and his name was unknown. The shelter had temporarily named him Buck - which is a fine name, EXCEPT we go lots of places and we were concerned that yelling Buck in a dog park could be interpreted much differently.  We tried combos of sounds to see if he answered to anything that we could figure.  He didn't so we chose our own (with help from doodlekisses members) and he learned it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I still laugh when I think that you almost chose "Huladollar", LOL

[Amy and Annabelle]

Huladollar? Where did that come from...Jeopardy?  I'll take hula for a dollar Alex.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If memory serves, it was the name of a car dealer? 

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Thanks for the input, everyone! We are leaning toward changing his name to "Bob." :-)  Bob strikes me as a "happy go lucky" kind of guy, and that is everything that he is.

I have to chuckle the way Winnie responds to so many different names- Win, Trixie, Trix, My Lady, Pup Pup, etc. None of the names sound even remotely like Winnie, but I know without a doubt that I could use any of them at her obedience classes. I have to think that this sweet love bug with adjust....

[Amy and Annabelle]

Bob is a nice name. I was thinking of Dexter. Then when you call for them you can just say "Windex". Although Dexter from the tv show was not a happy go lucky kind of guy.

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Lol Windex- too funny! I've gotten a couple of suggestions of "Pooh"- kinda along the same lines... "Come Winnie the Pooh..."