Today you’ll learn some dog vocabulary so that you can talk to your dog in English. We also have a guest appearance from Coco, possibly the world’s first podcasting dog!
Thanks to Joffre from Ecuador who interviewed me for his podcast Amigos Learning Languages. We spoke about Tomar – Llevar – Hacer VS Take – Carry – Make.
How many words can dogs learn?
“The average dog can learn 165 words, including signals, and the “super dogs” (those in the top 20 percent of dog intelligence) can learn 250 words.”
Source: American Psychological Association
Vocabulary
To beg (for food)
Bark (noun & verb)
Woof (English) / wow-wow (Spanish)
Whine (noun & verb) – whiny (adj.)
Yap (noun & verb) – yappy (adj.) e.g. Many Yorkshire terriers are yappy dogs.
To pant
Growl (noun & verb)
Breed/bred/bred (verb and noun) – a breeder (person)
Pure-bred (noun & adj.)
Mongrel
To take (Coco) out (for a walk) – walkies!
Lead/Leash (verb and noun)
To leash – to put on a leash/lead & To unleash
Hair and fur
Fur – the hair that a furry/hairy (adj.) animal has
A shiny, healthy coat
Legs and paws – two different things, two different words in English
Snout – a dog’s nose
To wag your tail
Treats – Doggy biscuits (Coco’s favourite word in English!)
Mutt – slang for mongrel/disliked dog
Stroke (noun & verb) – slowly move your hand over something/someone
Working dogs
Guard dog
Guide dog (for the blind)
Police dog
Herding dog – e.g. sheepdogs
Sniffer/Detection dog
Search and rescue dog
Therapy dog –
Using animals to lift the spirit therapeutically can be traced back to ancient Greece. Florence Nightingale, the revolutionary British nurse, pioneered the modern school of Pet Therapy in the 1860s. She realised that dogs and other pets helped mentally ill patients recover better.
Idioms/Sayings
A doggie bag
Let sleeping dogs lie
His bark is worse than his bite
To bark up the wrong tree
As sick as a dog
A dogfight – 1) a fight between dogs; 2) aerial combat between two fighter planes
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks
It’s a dog’s life
Coco’s Q & A session–
Q- How old are you, Coco? Or should I say Coquito, Coquiño, Rosquillita, Roski or Lord Roskins, all of which are your pseudonyms, I believe
A- Just “Coco” is fine! I’m over 16 years old. That’s equivalent to nearly 100 years in human terms.
Q- What’s a typical day for you, Coco?
A- I get up around 9 o’clock and want my cooked breakfast as soon as possible. My first walk is around 9:30. When I get back I have my first nap of the day. Lunch is at around 4:00, followed by more walkies, then another kip. Sometimes I play with Daddy in the early evening – the running after the cuddly toy game. Supper’s between 8 and 10 o’clock – it varies. I do get a bit annoyed at Daddy at times when he gets home late to make my supper, and I’m starving. Straight after supper, it’s time for the last walk of the day and then beddy-byes.
Q- What’s your favourite food?
A- Well, I particularly like lamb’s liver, though I love all meat. I enjoy most fish and seafood too, but can’t stand defrosted prawns – they must be fresh, otherwise I spit them out. (True!) I’m also fond of cheese, pumpkin, cous-cous (preferably spelt cous-cous!), cucumber and pomegranate. Though I love bluefish, such as salmon, it seems to disagree with me. (All true!)
Q- Don’t you eat feed, or tinned dog food?
A- No way, José! That stuff’s for silly young mutts. I have a delicate tummy and only eat freshly cooked meat or fish with vegetables.
Q- And treats?
A- Yes siree! Now you’re talking my language! I demand one after every meal and every walk.
Q- Does Daddy know your likes and dislikes?
A- Well, he’s often a bit slow to catch on. But I try to communicate my pleasure by wagging my tail. When I’m not pleased, I growl quietly. I only occasionally bark – I’m not a yappy dog.
Q- We mentioned various kinds of working dogs earlier. At your age obviously, you’re retired, but have you worked much throughout your life, Coco?
A- Uuhm, well, kind of…You see, I’m a lap dog. My job is to sit comfortably on people’s laps – on top of their legs – and let them stroke me, while I perhaps… have a snooze, you know.
Q- I see. Well, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, Coco.
A- The pleasure’s mine.
…and now it’s your turn to practise your English.
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In next week’s episode: Are you satisfied with your English level?
The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’