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By Rachael O'Connor
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A family adopted a dog who appeared perfect in every way, apart from not listening to any commands—until they realized why.
Becca Kuperschmid, 23, was home in New York City for the holidays in December when she and her family decided to help out an animal rescue during the busy time and foster a dog.
"We've always been a huge dog family," Kuperschmid told Newsweek. "It was around December when we fell in love with Lady, who was a part of True North Rescue Mission, an amazing rescue in New York that brings dogs from Texas.
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However, after taking rescue dog Lady home, it "very quickly became evident that Lady was going to be a foster fail," she said, using the term for when a foster family cannot give up the dog and end up adopting them for good.
They quickly fell in love with Lady, with Kuperschmid praising her as "such a sweet and amazing girl, amazing in the car, well crate trained, potty trained, and so full of love, we were so lucky."
It was almost perfect—but the family "soon realized she wasn't the best listener."
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Kuperschmid and her family tried to get Lady to do tricks or listen to commands, but whether it was giving the paw or calling her closer, "she wouldn't budge, she wouldn't respond."
And just as they began to accept that their dog wasn't listening to them, a family friend from Ecuador came to visit—and suggested to Kuperschmid's mother that perhaps the dog understood Spanish.
In a video shared to Kuperschmid's TikTok account @beckymentality on February 25, viewed over 2.5 million times, the Spanish-speaking friend calls Lady over and, in Spanish, tells her to sit and then give the paw—which Lady does immediately.
Kuperschmid explained in the video's caption: "We adopted Lady a few months ago and she hasn't been the best listener...turns out she just speaks Spanish!"
"It's so funny because I feel like [Lady's] face immediately lit up," Kuperschmid told Newsweek. "Now, if you were to walk into my house today, it's just my mom attempting every Spanish word under the sun."
According to a study in Applied Animal Behavior Science on 165 adult dogs, our four-legged friends know an average of 89 words. One study on a border collie, known to be among the most intelligent dog breeds, found he could recognize the names of 1,022 objects, according to an article published in Behavioural Processes.
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TikTok users loved the video, with one commenter joking it was "time to change her name from Lady to Senorita."
Another pointed out the look on Lady's face when she received the command in Spanish, writing: "Those eyes say 'so glad we got over that language barrier!'"
Others shared their own stories, including one of a friend who "thought she was training her puppy in English commands. The puppy would ignore her. Turns out when her grandma was dog sitting during the day, she was learning Russian!"
Kuperschmid told Newsweek her family "needs to invest in Duolingo membership" to fully communicate with the rescue pup, but "we are so lucky, and it is so fun to have a dog who can speak a different language."
She thanked the True North Mission for "bringing us the new bilingual member of our family."
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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