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Posted by Pat in Virginia on October 1, 2009, 8:34 pm
Dogs can get used to a totally different name. When we lived in Germany, we
acquired a darling wirehaired dachshund of about 2 years of age. He
understood only German language, and he had a very odd Italian name. (I
can't recall it.) The kids named him Scruffy because he was "Scruffing
around the porch" ... even before he came into the house. I think they got
the meaning of the word Scruff wrong, but hey the name worked and the dog
soon learned his new name and the words Eat and Walk!! Grins,
Pat in Virginia
have been very involved in our humane society (this is my 10th year
on the Board
of Directors). Names are *very* important! Names can even influence
adoption.
People would relinquish animals and bring them in with the worst
names, and I
always insisted we change them. But change them *just a little* so the
dog
would still recognize it. So "Booger" would become "Sugar", and "Snot"
would
become "Spot."
Sherry
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Posted by Dr. Zachary Smith on October 2, 2009, 9:00 am
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<major snippage>
> He understood only German language, and he had a very odd Italian name.
> Sherry
show/hide quoted text
Oh, Sherry, Sherry, Sherry... <VBG - enormous in fact>
Where to begin... Dogs don't understand "languages" at all; they
recognize and associate sounds/phonetics (they're generally better
with hard consonants and 2 syllables or less, though there are
exceptions). Nationality, ethnicity, or dialect have no import to
them. You could make up complete nonsense words and a dog would
understand them just as well as long as an association were made.
We were watching old WB cartoons one day, and a Pete Puma cartoon came
on (only 2 were ever made so they're something of a novelty). DW & I
exclaimed together, "Pete Puma!" and Boomer went absolutely apescat.
We laughed our heads off as we said it a few more times and he went
through all kinds of antics, getting more and more excited each time.
Then it dawned on us. "Pete Puma" is phonetically *very* similar to
the phrase "feed Boomer", which he knew *very* well.
He had a similar response to the phrase "foot stinky" (I don't even
recall how that one came up...) but we never did figure out the
phonetic association.
Doc
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Posted by Dr. Zachary Smith on October 2, 2009, 9:03 am
wrote:
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Sorry! That should have been "Pat, Pat, Pat..." <embarassed blush>
Doc
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Posted by onetexsun on October 2, 2009, 1:37 pm
Doc, this is probably the same process that sends Jo bonkers when we
start singing Happy Birthday, but we can't figure out what the
"trigger" is. We don't think he ever got a piece of cake tossed to him
during the singing, or immediately after. It has to remind him of
something, cuz we can sing HB even without a cake or candles and the
doof goes crazy. Ah well, wouldn't you love to know what they're
thinking.....
Sunny
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Posted by Dr. Zachary Smith on October 2, 2009, 2:00 pm
WOOD EYE! (Really bad old joke...)
I... have a little habit of making up little 2-line ditties as I'm
working on this or that - the kind Durante or Geo. Burns used to
twinkle on the piano in their stage acts. I started doing that with
Fudge this week and he LOVES when I sing softly to him on my lap. Our
past 2 dogs just ignored me but this li'l tyke is different (as we
expected). DW had him in her lap last night and noticed he was
following her bouncing screensaver. Boomer used to get really
agitated whenever wolves came on cable; not dogs - just wolves.
show/hide quoted text
<shrug> Just like people, you never know just what'll set em off...
Doc
show/hide quoted text
> Doc, this is probably the same process that sends Jo bonkers when we
> start singing Happy Birthday, but we can't figure out what the
> "trigger" is. We don't think he ever got a piece of cake tossed to him
> during the singing, or immediately after. It has to remind him of
> something, cuz we can sing HB even without a cake or candles and the
> doof goes crazy. Ah well, wouldn't you love to know what they're
> thinking.....
> Sunny
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> He understood only German language, and he had a very odd Italian name.
> Sherry