A Kelsie by Any Other Name (How To: Name)

Before my name was called: destroying Hokey Pokey

After my name was called: "Yes, Mom?"

Yesterday, I arrived in my new home at Dartmouth and met Mom for the first time!  I don’t want to make a hasty assumption since we’ve only known each other for a day, but I think we’ve hit it off pretty well.

Apart from settling into my new home/dorm room, my first official task was to learn my new name (if you remember, Name is on Tier I).  Mom changed my foster name, Molly, to Kelsie Iris, although she just calls me “Kelsie” to make it easier on her and me—this is actually my third name because my name in the shelter was Cali, which actually isn’t too different from Kelsie.  Sometimes it can take a while for a dog to learn her new name, especially after so many changes, but a dog of any age can learn a new name.  By yesterday evening, I already knew my new name was Kelsie.  There are a few training tricks that really helped me out:

1)    When I first arrived, Mom would say my new name (“Kelsie”) and would immediately give me a small treat (she recommends Mini Zuke’s broken in half: ~1.5 calories). This helped me associate this new word, which I didn’t realize was my name yet, with something good.

2)    Similarly, Mom would say my name while petting me, to associate the word with good things—I love being petted and rubbed and snuggled, so this was perfect for me!

3)    Mom, and Auntie-Mommy K (my other mommy, because it’s the 21^st century) used my name frequently to get my attention.  She would often use it before she told me to do something, like “Sit.”  This works because a dog’s name can work much like “Watch Me,” in that it grabs her attention and lets her know that you are talking to her and not the tree over there.

4)    Mom also used my name when asking me to retrieve a ball that she had thrown.  I have a natural tendency to bring a ball back (because I know that as soon as I bring it back, it will be thrown again), so hearing my name as I trotted to Mom helped me associate my name with coming to her.  Since a dog’s name can also function as an alternate to “Here,” this helped me better understand this other dimension of my name.

As a side note, it also helps that I’m very smart (or so says Mom), and so a natural ability to understand new things has also helped me learn my name really quickly.  However, being smart isn’t a prerequisite for learning a new name—like I said before, any dog of any age can learn her new name, but sometimes it will take some dogs longer to do so.  Learning a new name in half a day is quite speedy, so like with all training, it can take some patience on the handler’s part throughout the process.  Luckily for me, Mom has been so patient!

I have decided to try to keep my blog posts a little shorter, if possible, so if I have multiple commands that I have been learning in one day or period, then I will split them into multiple posts.  This will also help organize the commands a little better for anyone trying to use them as guides or pointers (no dog puns intended there!).  So stay tuned for everything else I’ve been learning over the past day or so!

Love you all,

Kelsie Iris