Last Sunday, I adopted a rescued 3 1/2 year old male Portuguese Water Dog. He’s a fun, happy dog … with a really awkward call name - Milky Way.
Thing is, something like “Fido” won’t fly. Here’s the guidelines.
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The name can’t end in “ie,” “ey,” or otherwise sound too similar to “Bailey” – the 2 1/2 year old female Portie that already shares my house.
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The name should be two syllables.
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The name can’t sound like a command.
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PWDs more often than not have call names that are Nautical or Portuguese themed. Such a name would be preferred.
As a last resort, he becomes “Guinness”
BTW, how do you rename a dog so he/she responds to it? I assume slowly, gradually increasing the frequency of its use while decreasing use of the old name.
First off, never name a dog something that will sound foolish when you have to walk around the block hollering it again and again. I once had a neighbor with a dog named Windjammer. Boy, did he look silly! I’d suggest a name that sounds a bit like his original name. Such as…Bilko or Bilbo. Dildo is out because of rule number one. I got my dog from a breed rescue group. His name had been Nicky. Variations of Nikita are popular among Eskimo dog owners because Nikita Krushchev gave an Eskie pup to Caroline Kennedy. We renamed him Bobo; Spanish for fool. Even though we went through Dog Ob school with him, he still sometimes responds better to Nicky. Daft critter.
cão is portuguese for dog.
Pablo … sort of has Portuguese sound to it. And it seems to be a tradition to suggest that name on SDMB…
That’s the breed’s name in Portugal, though … Cão de Agua.