adopting a dog and want to change name

So i am adopting a dog and the dogs name is Bama, i dont like this name
and want to change it, is that a bad thing to do, to confuse the dog,

Alison...

I changed my dog's name from Diddy to Dibby and it didn't cause problems
as they are so similar.
If you want to chose a name that is different you could just add it to
Bama e.g BamaLucky and then drop Bama after a few days.

Shelly...

I would pay money to see (hear?) someone yelling "Come BamaLucky!"
across a park. That would *totally* make my day.

Seriously, though, I can't see any advantage to prolonging any
potential confusion by creating an interim Frank-n-Name.

Janet B...

Me neither. Pretend the dog was found and has no known name. I've
yet to have a dog (or cat) not learn their new name within a day -
food is very powerful that way.

I've had a few no names and most recently, Rudy had been "Simba"
(ICK!) for 5 months. He learned Rudy in a snap.

I just called him as he was looking out the front door. "Simba" got a
turn and come to me. He went back to the door. "Fido" got the same
response. Let's face it, some dogs think you're always talking to
THEM! ;-D

ceb...

I believe I must use a different tone of voice for each of my dogs, because
they always know who I'm talking to, whether I use a name or a nickname.
And if I let out a general alert "hey, where are the doggies?" everyone
comes running. Of the three, though, Queenie's the one most likely to
respond to any call -- after all, food COULD be involved!

Alison

or will a ten month old female dog quickly adapt to the new name?

Paula...

Dogs do just fine with name changes, I've found. Think of all the
shelter dogs whose prior names are completely unknown. They end up
with new names and no problems with it. I think dogs' attitude is
"call me anything, but just don't call me late for dinner." Call her
whatever you want and as long as good things come whenever you use
that name, she'll happily change what name she responds to.

Amy Dahl...

I have changed names of dogs twice. They adapted just fine.

I think it fits in readily with dogs' view of the world that "this person
calls me this" and "that person calls me that." What's difficult is to
get them to respond the same to the same word spoken by
different people.

If you make sure that responding to her name is a good thing
by following it up with good attention or fun activities, she'll
catch on quickly and act happy about it.

Debbie the Dogged...

I got an adult cat, name unknown, from the "pound". For three weeks I
threw out various names, which he ignored. One day I said "Duncan?" and
he meowed and came running. No idea if that was his original name, or

Rocky...

A few years ago Toni mentioned "naming parties" - whereby humans
would sit around on the floor throwing out dog names and
watching the puppies' responses.

Duncan has gotta be the right name.

montana wildhack...

This is reminding me of the young dog three doors down who kept getting
out because humans were working on the house and forgetting to shut the
gate.

Since the dog had tags, (I didn't know him at the time) we could look
him up and find out his name and address and return him. The dog has
been named "Harvey" but I swear to you that his name is really "Kevin"
and I knew it the minute I saw him.

Of course, he's a very friendly guy and would probably come to any
human using any call name, but his owners got it wrong. Really. His
name is Kevin.

And in our home, the late Duchess of Doodle always answered to Duchess,
but she loved being called "Doodle" and knew that was her "special"
name. I'm not sure how I got that one, but she was definately a
"Doodle" dog (although not at all in the mutt for money manner).

if he just liked the sound of it. It certainly fits him (his full name
is now Duncan McCat There-can-be-only-one.

Amy Dahl

Shelly...

It's okay to change her name. Think of all the dogs in shelters and
rescues, whose original names are unknown. Those dogs have no
trouble adapting to a new name.

I got Harriet when she was 7mo. Her former name was Abbie. Abbie
is a fine name, but it did *not* fit her. She quickly learned her
new name, even though it was similar to my other dog's name
(Elliott). She also has quickly picked up on the various nicknames
I call her by (Little Missy, Squirrel, Biscuit, etc.).

Dogs are smart, and I'm sure your dog will adapt just as easily to
whatever you choose to call her.

Rocky...

My rescue dog came to me at 7 months old with the name of
"Jade" - not the best name for a male dog, IMO. I tried to
come up with rhyming names, but only "Blade" came to mind
(which I didn't like for this dog - no offense to Gwen).

So, I went for a completely different name: "Friday." After a
couple of weeks, I tried his old name and he didn't even
glance at me.

Some dogs may have negative associations with their old name
if their previous life was harsh, so changing the name is
often a good thing.