A puppy named Danny who was abandoned during a homeless sweep in December now has a new home with two 23-year-old best friends and a new name that comes straight out of the rap world, “Phife Dawg.”

The human Phife Dawg is “our favorite rapper,” said Lorenzo “Renz” Ishikawa, 23, the new owner of Phife Dawg the rescue dog.

Ishikawa and his roommate and best friend from high school in Manhattan, Sean Picca, now have a third buddy in their two-bed, two-bath Makiki apartment who has fulfilled a lifelong wish of Ishikawa’s to own and train a rescue dog.

Along the way, Phife Dawg’s puppy needs are making Ishikawa grow up faster ever since the dog came home on Saturday.

“He never leaves me,” Ishikawa said. “He sleeps on my bed. He wakes me up at 5 in the morning, which is absurd because I never wake up at 5. I’m a server at the Lucky Belly restaurant in Chinatown. Now I go to bed at 11 o’clock at night because of this guy. I joke to everybody at work, ‘I’m sorry. I’m a dad now. I can’t go out after work.’ No more going out and partying for me, which I’m totally fine about. Now he gives me a reason to be responsible and not spend my money on drinks.”

Phife Dawg was known as Danny the Shar-Pei mix when he was discovered tied up during a Dec. 4 sweep of 70 homeless people and their animals from a Mapunapuna bike path that runs parallel to the H-1 freeway viaduct.

At 13 months old, Danny was emaciated, nervous and shy. Honolulu Star-­Advertiser readers followed his progress as Hawaiian Humane Society volunteers and workers bulked him up to 44 pounds and taught him how to have fun with both humans and animals.

Then Ishikawa saw Danny’s profile on the Hawaiian Humane Society’s website and brought Picca with him to the facility to take a look on Saturday.

“Some lady at the Humane Society said, ‘Danny’s the sweetest. Did you guys know he was a celebrity?’” Ishikawa said. “She showed us the story in the (Star-­Advertiser). It was really, really sad. I imagined him terrified. As a dog person my whole life, I couldn’t imagine that.”

Picca is a cat person while Ishikawa was raised with a passel of highly trained, purebred dogs: “Dalmatians, dobermans, German shepherds, golden retrievers, purebred poodles,” Ishikawa said.

“But I’ve always wanted to adopt an older dog that needs loving that people didn’t provide,” Ishikawa said. “Sean’s always been a cat person, and I’ve always tried to get him to switch. I told him, ‘Nope, I’m not getting a cat.’ Plus I told him it’s the year of the dog. We’re both (born in) ’94, the year of the dog.”

Picca was at work and unavailable to provide his side of the story.

While Ishikawa wanted an older dog, Ishikawa’s and Picca’s youth, energy and work schedules — Ishikawa works at night, Picca works during the day — mean that Phife Dawg gets plenty of attention and exercise.

“Our first walk is at 9 a.m., followed by another around noon,” Ishikawa said. “Then Sean will do the nighttime walk. But we’re still trying to housebreak him because he’s had a lot of accidents. He’s getting really good at sitting now and I’m going to train him on not pulling on the leash.”

Even though owning a puppy can be “stupid tiring,” Ishikawa said that Phife Dawg represents a childhood dream that’s now become reality.

“I’ve always wanted to have that bond of a dog listening all the time,” Ishikawa said. “This guy doesn’t leave my side. He doesn’t like it when I’m not next to him. He’s up in my grill every second.”