British Police learn German to talk to dogs

LONDON (AFP) - British police dog handlers are learning to give orders to their animals in German after bosses decided to import Alsatians because of a shortage of suitable animals here, media reports said Friday.

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A trial of the German dogs by Derbyshire Police in east central England has been deemed a success, prompting 16 other forces to recruit the canines at 2,000 pounds (2,600 euros, 3,900 dollars) each.

But the imports cannot understand commands in English, the Daily Telegraph said. "If you say, 'let go' in English, they just look at you like you are crazy," one dog handler told the newspaper.

Handlers have had to learn a series of orders in German, including "sitz" (sit), "platz" (down), "aus" (let go), "holen" (fetch) and "bissen" (bite).

A Derbyshire Police spokeswoman told the Press Association news agency said they were attempting to get the dogs to respond to English.

"We are repeating the German commands in English so they are becoming bilingual," she added.

Police have opted for German Alsatians as they are deemed to be more efficient and obedient than those bred in Britain because of a strict breeding regime.

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Lol, I dunno the significance of it, but I found it amusing. Bilingual dogs. Can we teach them to meow next?

-:pirate3:

I think my friend's dog is nearly bilingual. He's a Russian doggy, so she usually gives him commands in Russian, but he knows some English, I think. The dog is probably smarter than I am.

That's not too uncommon... my grandfather had a dog who was trained as a policy dog but didn't graduate completely for what ever reason, and she responded to only German commands. It's not that odd if you think about it. I don't think animals understand the language, they probably cannot comprehend the meanings of the words but they can associate the sounds with what ever thing they have been taught to or they expect.
Not that I know what I am talking about.

It isn't unusual for police dogs to be trained in another language. They actually do it on purpose. The reasoning behind it is actually rather simple. If the dog responds to English commands, then it could be called off by an English speaker. By having it trained in another dialect, the only person that could call off the dog would be his handler.

That's the theory anyway.