I wasn’t sure if this was GQ-worthy or really a CS question, so feel free to move this if you want to, Mods. It is kind of silly. 
Whenever I watch movies with animal actors in them, why are they named something else in the credits (and even called that “other” name in the movie?)
Do they “know” to respond to that other name or is there dubbing going on?
Sorry, I think about weird things. :o
I think in many cases, the animals aren’t paying any attention to what the actors are saying, but instead are just focusing on their trainer.
I remember reading an interview with Kelsey Grammar (sp?) about Frasier, where he said that whenever it looks like Eddie is interacting with one of them, he’s actually watching his trainer, who’s standing just off-camera. Whenever they’d get to Eddie’s part, the trainer would give a hand signal, and Eddie would go do what he was supposed to do as if he were listening to the actors.
Dog trainer here
I’ve had dogs do stage work and television work. Stage is harder, mind you. Some dogs in movies or on stage have stage names that are really quite long. Trainers like shorter names, as they are easier to train with. All our dogs here, for example, are also trained using hand signals alone - I even have a sign for their individual names (ASL is another thing my guys learn). I can work a dog through a scene without even saying one word.
There’s lots of rehearsing that goes into stuff like this. Dogs also learn how to hit their mark (I use all sorts of things to mark a mark - from a mousepad to a fake leaf). I also train my guys to follow a laser pointer’s beam - either to look in that direction (look at an actor, for example) or move in a specific direction. This is easily edited out or camouflageable (new word, I think <g>)
On stage, things are different. We rely on learned routines, food, and other motivators.
Elly n’ da dawgs
Thank for answering my dumb question. Everything is an illusion, isn’t it?
Eddie’s real name is Moose. Just a little tidbit I thought I’d mention. (And to nitpick, it’s Kelsey Grammer.) Moose is apparently a really smart dog. At least according to Animal Planet. Sadly, he is uncredited on “Frasier,” but I love him anyway.
If it makes you feel any better, “Happy” on “7th Heaven” is really named “Happy.”
–pinky (not really named pinky)