Useful Spanish dog commands are siéntate (sit), quieto (stay), échate or acuéstate (lie down), ven (come) and tómalo (take it). Dog is perro, or perra for a female dog. To praise your dog, Mexicans usually say ¡muy bien! rather than “buen perro.” Use the same words every time.
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If you are learning Spanish, there’s no better way to practice your skills than teaching your pets to speak Spanish. With a few basic Spanish commands, you can make pet training fun and effective, as you can see in this video where I speak in Spanish to my dogs, Jubi and Max. It’s an easy way to improve your vocabulary and speak Spanish on a daily basis.
Are there any advantages to speaking Spanish to your dogs? Definitely yes! Besides the fact that you get to practice your language skills, you’ll also understand the imperative mood. In addition, if you use training commands in Spanish, it’ll be easier for your pet to pick it out from your everyday words. You’ll basically have a “secret” language between you and your pet.
Let’s start with the basics: how do you say “dog” in Spanish? 🐶
Learn how to say “dog” in Spanish: perro or perra
In Spanish, nouns follow a two-gender system (male/female) and are marked for number (singular/plural). Hence, if your dog is a male, then you use perro. If your dog is a female, you use perra. Just remember to roll the “r” in Spanish. If you have a puppy (or a little cute dog), you simply add the ending “-ito/a” to perro or perra: perrito or perrita.
If you want to talk about your dog’s size in Spanish, you can say perro grande (big dog) or perro pequeño (little dog). Another way is to add “-ito/ita” at the end of perro/a: perrito and perrita. Therefore, Jubi is a perra pequeña or perrita.
In the video, I talk briefly about my dog’s breed (raza de perro). Jubi is a beagle, while Max is a mutt, a mestizo in Spanish. Here are a few examples of other Spanish dog breeds:
- Bloodhound – Sabueso
- French Bulldog – Bulldog francés
- German Shepherd – Pastor alemán
- Great Dane – Gran danés
- Husky – Perro esquimal
- Mastiff – Mastín
- Poodle – Caniche
- Pug – Doguillo
- Scottish Terrier – Terrier escocés
What’s your pet’s breed? Drop your answer in the comments. And if you would like to work more on your Spanish skills, check out this animal vocabulary in Spanish.
Video transcript
Hi, I'm Hannah Pinkerton, instructor of Spanish and English conversation at rompiendolasbarreras.com. This is my dog, Maximus. I'm not actually a dog. And I have trained him and my other dog, Jubie, if she comes out for this video, to respond to some commands in Spanish. So, I'm going to show this to you guys and hopefully they will show off what they know. Okay, Maximus. Siéntate. Good boy. Maximus, acuéstate. Good boy. Those are the only two that Maximus knows, so I told him "siéntate," which is sit down.
It's a command conjugation in the tú, which is the informal "you" tense for acostarse, so "acuéstate," lay down. Bob is here. He wants to get in on the action. Fortunately, Bob does not know Spanish. And I also told Maximus, so I told him "siéntate," which is sit down in Spanish, and it comes from sentarse, is the unconjugated reflexive verb, and then "acuéstate," which is lay down. The unconjugated reflexive verb is acostarse. And Jubie is here, hiding underneath the table, so maybe I can get her to come out and show off what she knows.
Jubie, come here. Good girl. Jubie, siéntate. Good. Good girl, Jubie. Jubie's a beagle. She's about seven or maybe a little older. She's a rescue. Jubie, acuéstate. Good girl. Good. Maximus is a rescue as well. He's some kind of mutt, and he's at least seven. And Jubie knows a couple of other tricks. Jubie, siéntate. Jubie, dame la pata. No. Jubie, siéntate. Jubie, wait. Jubie, siéntate. Good. Dame la pata. Dame la pata. Good pata. Good. So I told Jubie the same two commands that I told Maximus, which was "siéntate," sit down, and "acuéstate," lay down.
And then I also told Jubie, "Jubie, dame la pata." "Dame la pata" is give me your paw, or your hand, so it's kind of like how we would say in English, "shake." And so the infinitive, unconjugated, reflexive verb is "darse la mano," would be give me the hand, or "darse la pata," give me the paw. So those are some fun tricks that I have taught the dogs in Spanish. I hope you have enjoyed this video. And again, my name is Hannah Pinkerton. I teach Spanish and English conversation at rompiendolasbarreras.com, which is www.r-o-m-p-i-e-n-d-o-l-a-s-b-a-r-r-e-r-a-s.com.
Thanks for viewing my two Spanish-speaking dogs, Maximus and Jubie.
Teach your dog to speak Spanish
Teaching your dog to speak Spanish is a great way for you to practice your language skills and for your dog to actually understand and follow your commands. Besides, you get to raise a polyglot pet. By using a dog command in a different language, it’ll be easier for your pet to pick it out in your daily conversations. Here are the most popular dog commands in Spanish:
- Good dog! – The literal translation for this one is Buen perro, but in Spanish is best to say ¡Muy bien! (Very good!)
- Sit – Siéntate (the imperative form of the verb sentar)
- Stay – Quieto
- Lie down – Échate / Acuéstate
- Take it – Tómalo
- Take the ball – Toma la pelota
- Drop the ball – Suelta la pelota
- Leave it – Déjalo
- Fetch – Tráelo
- Search – Búscalo
- Give it to me – Dame / Dámelo
- Give me the paw – Dame la pata
- Wait – Espera / Espérate
- Release – Suéltalo
- Come to me – ¡Ven a mí!
- Here – Aquí
- Let’s go! – ¡Vamos!
- Stop – Para /Párate
As you can see, these are a few Spanish commands you can use to train your dog. If your pets are doing a good job, don’t forget to congratulate them and give them a treat: premio (prize) or recompensa (reward). In a nutshell, that’s how you teach your dog to speak Spanish. If you want to give your pets some extra love, learn how to say “I miss you” in Spanish.
Now you have everything you need to speak Spanish to your pets. Don’t forget to share your ideas, thoughts, and progress in the comments, and subscribe to my Youtube channel for more language tips and free Spanish lessons. ✍️
And if you want help on your Spanish journey, book a free Spanish Roadmap Session or see how our coaching works. Also read lomito and other Mexican dog words.
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