Dog relearning its name?

Sinonymous

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Hey y'all, I recently adopted a German Shepherd Dog that lost it's owners in a tragedy. She's house and restraint trained and a overall nice and calm dog. However, she is very smart but, we recently figured out that all her obedience commands are in German like a police dog... And also the name on her collar is Trigger but she doesn't respond like that is her name. :confused: She's a nice dog but it would be really helpful if we knew her name. Any suggestions on how to figure out? Thank You.
 
Learn German?

I mean I'm sure it depends on the dog...some dogs will recognize that when his owner says Spike for example, he is referring to him. Some dogs won't get it or will ignore you. They're not going to just know it's their name, they have to make that connection.

How do you say Trigger in German anyway, you could try that maybe...
 
It probably won't matter even if you did learn German. The dog remembers it's masters voice in German. So you would have to mimic him and speak German.

Dogs don't actually learn words but sounds. So you must "master" the dog.
Going first outside the door, loose leash walking, coming when called, sitting for treat. etc.

A good way to teach a dog that "Hey, I'm above you in this pack!".
Is to lay the dog down holding it's scruff until the dog stops wiggling. Dogs do this in nature to show dominance. Soon the dog will actually roll over onto her belly when you walk over. (Showing belly is a sign of submitting).

Once you have mastered the dog, THEN you can teach the dog it's name.
Teach your dog that you know her language (not German). But Dog.
Start by doing some simple No commands. (No... Don't say No.).
Say this "AH! AH!" sounds sorta like this "A-EH! A-EH!". Loud and quick. Dogs actually make a grunt like this noise to show a sign of "No", "Don't want to", "leave me alone". Remember. Master the dog.

Once doing all this (weeks, maybe months). You can teach any command you like. Even change her name.


You must make the dog want to follow you, not to follow the treat.
 
It probably won't matter even if you did learn German. The dog remembers it's masters voice in German. So you would have to mimic him and speak German.

Exactly the dog dosent know that exact word it knows that sound and that sound depends on the type of voice you use
So for instance our German Shepard is called Stella however if i just say stella in conversation with my mum or dad the dog wont respond to me whereas if i actually say it in the voice i use to address the dog the dog will respond . I can also call the dog bella and as long as i use the voice i use to address the dog she becomes interested in me and responds seeing as they both sound simillar

If it does say trigger on the collar try saying trigger in a variety of different voices see how the dog responds to it . It might also be that the dog is currently unfamilliar with your voice . We got our German sheapard from a simillar situation to yours and it took her a few weeks to adjust to our way of doing things
 
A Picture of Trig:

DSC_0508.JPG
 
Good looking dog. The expression is one of still being young and attentive.
A word of caution though, when you train don't expect over night results. And since you're the new owner you have to establish the pecking order first thing. You are the alpha male. Make that connection first and the rest is a breeze in comparsion.
Be easy with the treats. Some dogs will jump in to the fray just for their chew toy or a pat on the head.
 
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