Bilingual Commands ?

[Yonjuro]

My wife, who is Russian was asking me if she can use her native tongue for our new Siberian Husky puppy and will this be a problem with training as I will be using English.

Any thoughts?

[Vehs]

I'd just pick one word for each command, maybe 'sit' in English and 'lay down' in Russian. Having different words for the same command will be confusing... and at least agree on the same hand commands

[Nekhbet]

Start learning Russian :laugh:

you can have two sets of commands, but when you teach it say both words at once and keep repeating them. The dog can understand, my grandparents speak to my dogs in Jugoslav, and I use both Jugoslav and English in their training.

[Yonjuro]

Start learning Russian :laugh:

you can have two sets of commands, but when you teach it say both words at once and keep repeating them. The dog can understand, my grandparents speak to my dogs in Jugoslav, and I use both Jugoslav and English in their training.

Yeah, I should know the basic commands by now, as that is what my wife uses to train me :D Sit, stay, be quiet, stop drinking etc :laugh:

[minxy]

My in-laws Golden Retriever understood commands in both English and Hungarian no worries at all.

[Nekhbet]

Yeah, I should know the basic commands by now, as that is what my wife uses to train me :D Sit, stay, be quiet, stop drinking etc :laugh:

Yeah but let me guess, even if you don't understand the hand gestures and volume get the point across :laugh: OH started training our younger bitch in Russian, so now she's trilingual. Makes command refusal easy, most people can't pronounce her commands properly.

Dogs are incredibly perceptive animals. They're smarter then you think, and pick up on body language, tone and individual differences to know what you want from them, not just a blanket set of base commands.

[Yonjuro]

Yeah, I should know the basic commands by now, as that is what my wife uses to train me :D Sit, stay, be quiet, stop drinking etc :laugh:

Yeah but let me guess, even if you don't understand the hand gestures and volume get the point across :laugh: OH started training our younger bitch in Russian, so now she's trilingual. Makes command refusal easy, most people can't pronounce her commands properly.

Dogs are incredibly perceptive animals. They're smarter then you think, and pick up on body language, tone and individual differences to know what you want from them, not just a blanket set of base commands.

Oh for sure LOL, the Eastern European languages have a certain ring and volume to them that lets you know in no uncertain terms when you've been bad :D

But jokes aside, it sounds like the language differences wont be too much of a drama.

[blakkjackal]

My dog "speaks" Finnish. All his commands have been taught in Finnish, but he's picked up on a fair few most commonly used ones (or the ones that people use in English thinking he will understand, e.g. "sit", "stay"). This was actually my partner's idea and he learned the words I use very quickly. Dogs absolutely can learn two commands for one trick but I myself have "saved" the other language for if I ever need to retrain a command. Then I have a fresh cue that is easily remembered by me.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Hockz

[Nekhbet]

I remember when I first did dogsports a lot of people had two sets of commands - one in German for Sch and one in English for everyday things so not to sloppy the dogs performance on the field when it did things in a more 'casual' manner at home :)

[blakkjackal]

I remember when I first did dogsports a lot of people had two sets of commands - one in German for Sch and one in English for everyday things so not to sloppy the dogs performance on the field when it did things in a more 'casual' manner at home :)

Yep I know plenty of people who do this. Also reduces the chances of random people ruining the commands for you when you pick an unusual language as the second one. :p

[Podengo]

I remember when I first did dogsports a lot of people had two sets of commands - one in German for Sch and one in English for everyday things so not to sloppy the dogs performance on the field when it did things in a more 'casual' manner at home :)

I like that idea and intend to use it for future IPO dog! I use a couple of german commands for Elsie, just because I am running out of English words that are short and don't sound similar to anything else I use!

[Yonjuro]

This sounds very positive - now I just need to decide whether to tell the Mrs it should be okay :D THanks for all the responses

[BlackJaq]

Start learning Russian :laugh:

you can have two sets of commands, but when you teach it say both words at once and keep repeating them. The dog can understand, my grandparents speak to my dogs in Jugoslav, and I use both Jugoslav and English in their training.

I use mostly German for working situations and English for every day. I did this on purpose as my partner will ask the dog to do things but he is very slack on the follow up and I am not happy with how carelessly he handles retrieving commands... With our next retriever I will be teaching both from the start to save me having to correct sloppy responses after he asks her to fetch the remote because he gets too lazy to go get it himself and then lets her dump it on his lap or wherever :p

ETA: I also use hand signals and I find the dog will quickly connect any word to a hand signal and seems to be able to differentiate between hand signals or visual cues better than words/vocal cues. Most of our dogs will sit at a bunch of different words as long as they are spoken in the same tone of voice or the "sit" hand signal accompanies whatever word is used. I once farted loudly while looking at Weimaraner and her butt his the ground instantly... No hand signal needed :p :laugh:

Edited December 31, 2013 by BlackJaq

[halfthewords]

I taught Mischa a mix of German and English commands and she has no problems at all. I generally stick to German with her though. Carl understands a few French ones but he much prefers English :laugh:

[Jeremy34]

My dog's name is Archie. Can I teach him French commands, or will it be too confusing for him?

[Nekhbet]

Dogs do not understand any of our human languages the way we do. They simply hear a sound and we reinforce a behavior to be exhibited to that sound. You can use any language you like, heck you can use any word you like, as long as you're consistent the dog will get it.

[Jeremy34]

My point is that the French word for sit is quite close to his name. I did not mention this because I was hoping to receive an answer from somebody who knew what French commands sounded like. I am aware that dogs do not inherently understand English or any other language.

[VizslaMomma]

My point is that the French word for sit is quite close to his name. I did not mention this because I was hoping to receive an answer from somebody who knew what French commands sounded like. I am aware that dogs do not inherently understand English or any other language.

Then I think you could choose another word to mean sit.

assis is the choosen French word as you know. Pick another word for the same command.

I have done that with quite a few Hungarian words.

[Kavik]

My point is that the French word for sit is quite close to his name. I did not mention this because I was hoping to receive an answer from somebody who knew what French commands sounded like. I am aware that dogs do not inherently understand English or any other language.

I would then choose a different word for sit. You don't want your cues to sound too similar or it could confuse your dog. You could choose something that has a similar meaning if you wanted to, to make it easier for you to remember.

In some of the agility handling systems, they are moving over to repetitive sounds or repeating words instead of single word or single syllable cues. Such as lalalala, or repeating tunnel so it becomes tunnel, tunnel, tunnel. Unlike obedience, in agility you can use whatever cues you like, you can repeat cues, they can be as long or short as you wish, verbal or hand signals.

[persephone]

if training a dog - the word you use does not HAVE to the correct verb :D

Your dog can just as easily SIT if you have trained it using "grape" - so using another language - pick a word- any word!! LOL. perhaps use "Plie" (plee-ay) (fold/bend?)

trouble pig lies down when told by the boss "I'll kick you in the guts " ...... she then gets a toe belly rub ;)

Edited November 30, 2014 by persephone