French speaking dog.

[Miggimeggi]

Utopie, our French rescue dog is getting along fine and with help from a previous thread here, http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/659628/ShowPost.aspx, we have found that she responds well to my basic  French commands but I would like to know the normal French way of telling their dogs things like 'good girl', 'lovely girl',  'what a gorgeous girl you are!', etc. I do, of course, tell her these things in English but assuming that anyone ever did tell her these things before she ended up in rescue it would be nice to be sure she knew what I meant. 

Thanks for any suggestions.

Anne[:D]

[Suandpete]

We just use "bonne chienne" for good girl.

[Christine Animal]

C'est bien, ma fille !      C'est bien ma grande !

Que tu es belle !           Tu es une belle fi-fille !

Je te fais un gros bisou !        [kiss]

                                                            

                          

 

 

[Benjamin]

I don't own an animal but we look after friends' dogs from time to time (which always reminds me why we don't have a dog ourselves).

Surely it's your tone of voice, body language and actions which convey your feelings to wards an animal. Give it a modicum of inteligence it will soon pick up the words you are using.

Benjamin

[Wozza]

Anne

Try 'mignon' - sweetie / cutie. Our neighbours use this for our siberian husky and she loves it! Having said that, we speak to her in English, although we bought her in Spain - truly multi-lingual dog!

[Miggimeggi]

Thank you everybody, I am looking for something which gives me the instant response which I received from such things as 'couchez', 'vien ici', arrete, etc after I read the previous posts on this subject.  I was really surprised at how responsive she was  with those commands.  I have tried 'bonne chienne' before but without any flicker of recognition so presumably nobody said that to her very much.  I will try all of Christine's which sound good, and also 'mignonne' which I had never thought of before as I had associated it with something small [:-))]but checking the dictionary,  I see that size has nothing to do with it.  I will let you know how it goes.

Thank you Christine for the Dane puppy picci, he is rather lovely but I bet that you, like me, don't really care for ear cropping, elegant 'tho it looks.

Anne

[Suandpete]

As I've said before, our Molly is a rescue dog - rescued by a vet in

the Dordogne during the rabies problem of 2004 only because he thought

she was "mignonne"!!  Although she should have been put down as

she wasn't chipped or tattooed and was found starving he fell in love

with her.  Even after two years she still responds best to French

commands.  We have another dog (male) we have had for 4 years who

we have had since he was about 9 months old and he also responds best

to French.  Interesting isn't it - maybe we use a different tone

of voice when speaking French?

[Gastines]

Talking about French "speaking" dogs. When the circus was in town last week I noticed a well trained dog in the bun shop. This large french poodle went to to front of the queue and put the basket it was holding in it's mouth on the counter. As no-one complained I presumed it wasn't it's first visit. Mrs Bun took a note from the basket and a purse, put the bread etc in the basket, counted out the change,all the time the dog had it's paws on the counter watching every move,then it picked up the basket and trotted off up the road. My wife didn't believe me, so next morning she came with me to see for herself. I said the dog was probably from the circus by Cora. Intrigued we decided to follow it next morning but it went into a driveway in the village. We watched it put the basket down and look around, then it stood on it's hind legs and pressed the door-bell with it's nose. A chap opened the door,took the basket and kicked the dog in the behind. I said" Excuse me, don't you think that was a bit harsh" He replied, " No, that's the second time this week that he's forgotten his key"!!

Sorry about that,I couldn't resist it.

Regards

[Miggimeggi]

I'm not sure why, Gastines (perhaps the 3rd glass of vin rouge) but the 'flavour' of your contribution made me think of one of my favourite movies, 'Chocolat'.  There is a definite taste of France about it.[Www]

Anne

[riberac]

We have rescued 3 french rescue dogs and after 2 days they understood english commands beautifully.

[Miggimeggi]

[quote user="riberac"]We have rescued 3 french rescue dogs and after 2 days they understood english commands beautifully.[/quote]

My French is very limited and I am not very confident in it but although Utopie was getting along  fairly  OK in English, I read the thread to which I have placed the link and tried the French commands when she had been with us for about 3 months.  You could almost see her shoulders slump in relief and her responses were immediate.  I said 'couchez' and she dropped!!!!!!!!!!

 I just felt that she had been removed from everything she was familiar with and that when I spoke to her in words which she understood, I was returning to her a little bit of herself and a life which she understood.  I am sure that it sounds  very silly but I really feel that it has improved her self-confidence.  On the debit side, I have to say that she does not always obey , e.g. when we walk over the fields towards the woods, and she is loose, and she finds a nice and delicious pile of sanglier manure  or some 'buckshot' which she wants to eat, I can call 'vien' until I am blue in the face, she will only come when she is ready (and you can guess when that is).  However, that is a matter of her choice, not her ignorance. I have just felt lately that whilst I am telling her to do this and do that in a language which she understands, I am not rewarding her compliance in the same way, and if I can find the French words which she understands, I would like to.

Anne

[berger]

hi, as previously mentioned, dogs do not understand words at all, they understand and can tell apart sounds vocally, no matter where the dog is bred, there is no such thing as a french, english etc understanding dog, you could just as successfully transfer commands into english or visa versa as dogs learn by association, they do not understand what a word actually means in the human sense, they associate the sounds with the action.

that said, i think it is nice to use the french here, good practice for me anyway, whatever you choose, it is the tone of your voice that tells the animal if it is a postive or negative response from you, not the vocabulary.

monty

[Christine Animal]

I think what you are doing is marvellous Anne.  After a probably quite traumatic experience for such a sensitive breed you are giving her back some of her "repères" (bearings).  Do you know the reason of her abandon, was it a death or just someone who no longer wanted her?

My mother-in-law always used to say to our Great Dane, "bonjour la grande".  But another word you could try is "mémère", which the French often affectionately call females.

A while ago I mentioned on here a female Border Collie, Dixie, needing a home as her mistress just behind us had died.  She stayed at the house living outside with two other females for several months and did not want to leave her home.  But the house has now been sold and something had to be done about the dogs.  Last Sunday I literally dragged Dixie round here as she did not want to leave her patch.  She knows us well and wags her tail and makes a fuss, but did not want to come away from her house.  I kept encouraging her in French and when I said "allez, viens la mémère", the lead suddenly went slack as she came along with me.  I could see by her attitude she liked and knew the word "mémère" and it reassured her.  Several stops and mémères later, we finally got back to the house!

This is not about dogs but Prairie Dogs and it is quite amazing :

Prairie Dog Language

 

[Georgina]

My dog is bilingual. I speak to her in English but shout her in France, just in case the neighbours are listening. I don't agree that it's always tone because if I used the same tone to say "here stupid", she ignores me!!!

Georgina[:)]

[Miggimeggi]

No, Christine,  I don't know how  Utopie ended up in rescue, but I am just not at all fluent in French and so was not able to communicate beyond the basics with the rescue people.  We have her pedigree though, and also the transfer of ownership document and her previous owner and her breeder are the same person although she was almost 3 years old when we got her.  Also at the foster home, which was a farm with many Danes,  her younger sister was fostered and  up for adoption,  and I think (but am not sure) that there was another sibling.  When we saw Utopie, her nipples were huge and I asked had she had puppies.  We were told she had not but I am, as is our vet, pretty sure that she has had at least one litter. I think they told me that at least the two sisters were thrown out to starve and indeed, both were still  very scrawny even after having been in rescue for quite a while.  Perhaps she was a brood b*tch but although she is a lovely pet she is not a quality Dane.  However, I can only speculate and she is microchipped; surely a breeder wouldn't risk just chucking out a couple of chipped dogs.  I have to say that she took very readily to life indoors once she realised that she really was allowed in.

Unfortunately, after trying all the terms of endearment there has been no recognisable response but I have not yet tried 'mémère'. That said, she is very affectionate and loving. When I re-visited the previous thread on the same subject I picked up a new (to me)one.  She and Scalli were having their daily  abuse session at our very tolerant postlady, and I shouted to them, 'tais toi'.  The effect on 'Topie was immediate and she turned around mid-bark and came to me, very head down & subservient.

The Prairie Dog thing is fascinating,  I am reading it in small bites.  It makes me think of meerkats who seem to have a lot of similarities.

I hope you find a loving home for Dixie soon.

Anne

[Rob Roy]

[quote user="Georgina"]

My dog is bilingual. I speak to her in English but shout her in France, just in case the neighbours are listening. I don't agree that it's always tone because if I used the same tone to say "here stupid", she ignores me!!!

Georgina[:)]

[/quote]

She must have exceptional hearing too if she can hear you all that way[;-)]

[Christine Animal]

Anne, perhaps Utopie wasn't literally chucked out on the street, but the breeder maybe wanted to get rid of them (if not profitable) and Rescue Dog heard about it.  That maybe explains why she doesn't know the loving terms, but more the orders.  You will have to teach her some!

When she suddenly turned round when you shouted "tais toi", she must have thought "now where has she gone and found out about that!"   [:P]

No, I don't like the ear cropping either, too soldier-like.  Lisa, who came with me from England, looked just like this...

                                     She was an angel.

 

 

[Miggimeggi]

Christine, love the 'photo of your Lisa lookalike,  she's a lovely, elegant Dane.  All the colours are beautiful but fawns and brindles are the best of a very good bunch.

You could be right about how Utopie felt about the "tais toi" thing, she is both bright and cheeky enough to have thought just that, however, I may drop it.  It seems to subdue her, if she was a person I would say, 'depress her'.  Just now, she was having a casual, recreational bark at the folk who live across the fields from us and I shouted it to her.  Again, the response was immediate and she came in and curled up on her bed without even coming for a cuddle first.  I think she prefers my usual 'Shush'.[:-))]  She just ignores it but it doesn't depress her. [:D] She seems to be happy with the other French commands, I suspect that she likes the familiarity of them.  We will work on the loving terms.  She has become really self-confident over the past months, though she has a natural determination to be the household alpha.  Will have to curb that a little whether in French or English.[:D]

Finally managed to make the 'photo thing work.  This is one of her when she was still in rescue.  Must get around to buying another camera.

Anne

[IMG]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h15/miggimeggi/e7c836fe.jpg[/IMG]

[Georgina]

[quote user="Rob Roy"][quote user="Georgina"]

My dog is bilingual. I speak to her in English but shout her in France, just in case the neighbours are listening. I don't agree that it's always tone because if I used the same tone to say "here stupid", she ignores me!!!

Georgina[:)]

[/quote]

She must have exceptional hearing too if she can hear you all that way[;-)]

[/quote]

Quite, if there is anything interesting to do, then she doesn't hear me. Like the husband, the dog can turn a deaf one.[:)]

[:D]

[Christine Animal]

Thanks for the photo of Utopie Anne, I remember seeing her on the Rescue Dog site when you were going to have her.  She doesn't look all that thin on the photo.  Yes, the English Danes seem more graceful looking, the ones here look sort of "chunkier", maybe it's the Germanic strain.  The one on your avatar, is that your other one?  He looks a refined fellow... where did you get him?

 

[Miggimeggi]

Hi Christine,

 I suppose you are right, she doesn't look so thin.  I guess all things are relative -  when we got her, all her vertebrae were visible and her hips were big hard knobs.  Being used to, and having always had, either show or show quality Danes before, with the lovely flat 'table-top' topline, that knobbly spine and  those hips said to me, "scrawny".  You are actively involved in rescue and, I would guess, have seen things which make my 'thin' seem like well nourished.  That said, seven months later and now that she has been spayed, you hardly notice either the spine or the hips. She is beginning to look good.

I am afraid that the one on my avatar is not so much a refined fellow but a rather well set up girl.  She was Cassie and the mother of the only litter we ever bred.  We got her in South Africa where we lived then,  but she was from a mostly English line, and, poor darling,   we buried her there at the average age of a Dane, eight years old, just weeks before we came here. Her passage was already booked along with Megan, one of her daughters whom we lost to cardiomyopathy just a couple of weeks before her mother.  In the end when we arrived here, instead of the three Danes booked, we only had one.  He is a fawn boy, now almost 7 years old and seriously beautiful, easily big enough but  not huge. His sire and before that his grandsire, were "Great Dane of the Year of Southern Africa" year after year and they (and our lovely boy) were/are  just so gorgeous.  Oh dear, I am both off topic and bragging about my beloved dogs aren't I.  Look at the time, it is all because my OH went to bed and left me with most of a bottle of vin rouge to finish.  Well,  otherwise it would have been wasted, wouldn't it?

Good night everybody [:)]

Anne

PS Tried to post a pic of Cassie and the three puppies we kept but couldn't find out how to re-size it.

[Christine Animal]

Anne, how terribly, terribly sad losing your two Danes before you left, Cassie was beautiful.  Several months after Lisa died, also at the age of eight, a friend asked me if I had got over losing her.  I don't think I shall ever get over it.  If you can't resize the photo, perhaps you can just give the link.

The Danes here often seem to be harlequin or black.  We have rescued four here (all died now), two harlequin, one black and one fawn who we called Hugo.  He was no pedigree, but had a lovely personality.  He was huge, still a bit skinny here...

[IMG]http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a269/lavande/Hugo001.jpg[/IMG]

and liked looking in through the kitchen window !

  [IMG]http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a269/lavande/Hugo002.jpg[/IMG]

Come out a bit big too !

 

[Miggimeggi]

Yes, I see what you mean Christine - Utopie is certainly not thin compared to poor Hugo.

Here is the link you suggested, hope it works.

http://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=file00179wm.jpg

Anne

[Christine Animal]

Ooh yes, something very "out of Africa" about that picture, like lions, or maybe because I know that's where you were.  Beautiful... so the one you still have is the fawn on the right, see his big knees.  Won't keep you up with a bottle of wine tonight   [;-)]

A demain.