# language issues?



## Meo'smom (Jan 3, 2013)

Hey Poodle lovers!
I have a question that may be silly but here goes...We have Meo, our 17 month old standard who we ADORE!!! We were thinking about getting a miniature poodle to add to our family. Yes...MPS has struck again!

We are French. We would like to adopt a rescue. I was wondering if we get an English dog, could this be an issue? I don't think it's really a problem because poodles are so smart the new fur baby would catch on but in the meantime...will I have to translate? :argh: Hihihi!


----------



## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

any poodle will probably have less problems learning french than most native speakers of english in the us, at least. or perhaps you will be able to find a rescue that already speaks french. in any case, do not let language be an impediment. you know what they say, love transcends language. :biggrin1:


----------



## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

When my daughter rescued a pug a few years ago, we got her home and she seemed so dumb! lol We soon figured out she only "spoke" spanish! It didn't take long till she had the English language down. She still isn't the brightest crayon in the box, but she is loved. If a this pug can learn it, certainly a poodle can!


----------



## Ciscley (Jul 16, 2013)

It will actually probably be a great thing that the words you say will not have any previous associations for the rescue dog. That means you get to teach them the right thing from the beginning instead of undoing any poor training with english commands the previous owners attempted.

Though, honestly, we have a standard list of commands we use for all the service dogs in training and because all of us have different regional accents as well as range of vocal tones, we still have to somewhat "retrain" the dog for each new handler. Dogs don't understand language, they just recognize sounds and that's why clickers are so popular now and whistles were back in the day - because humans aren't very good at making identical sounds.


----------



## schnauzerpoodle (Apr 21, 2010)

I started training Nickel using English commands but we speak to him in Chinese (2 dialects of the Chinese language) at home. He understands all of them. We went to Paris this May. He didn't understand when kids greeted him in French but after a few days he turned around when he heard "Bonjour", "chien", "caniche" or "magnifique"  I think you can adopt an English-speaking poodle and s/he will have no problem understanding you. Poodles are smart enough to master 2+ languages.


----------



## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

Pretty much says it all!


----------



## ChantersMom (Aug 20, 2012)

I don't think you'll have a problem!


----------



## Alkhe (Aug 7, 2013)

It'll be a great party trick too! 
We babysat (well, dog-sat) an Italian Greyhound whose owners are French Canadian, and who only speaks French. I loved calling out French commands to her, and people thought it was awesome


----------

