A woman who thought her foster dog was disobedient - discovered it was because the pooch only understands SPANISH. <br /><br />Ariana Giampietro, 26, had been looking after pup Monty for a week and couldn't understand why he ignored her commands.<br /><br />The mixed-breed American Pitbull terrier was well-behaved, but it wouldn't 'sit' when she asked him to.<br /><br />When she asked the shelter she fostered him from she discovered he had previously lived on a farm with a Spanish family - and it turned out he only understood Spanish words. <br /><br />Ariana looked up the Spanish word for 'down' and 'let's go' and when she said them aloud, Monty immediately knew what to do.<br /><br />Shocked, Ariana discovered he knows lots of commands in Spanish - and was only 'ignoring her' because he had no idea what she was asking him to do.<br /><br />She is now teaching him English commands too so he can become bilingual - before he moves in with his new English-speaking adoptive family.<br /><br />Ariana, an adoption case manager for children in care, from Gainesville, Florida, US, said: "I had had Monty for eight days and was really confused why he wasn't responding to commands.<br /><br />"I could tell he wanted to - he was listening to me, but it was like he didn't know how.<br /><br />"Once I found out about his background, and realised it was because he only knew Spanish, I was amazed.<br /><br />"I was so happy to understand where the dissonance came from. <br /><br />"After I started speaking to him in Spanish, it was like he settled right in.<br /><br />"He started getting 'zoomies', and his overall confidence skyrocketed because all of a sudden we weren't alien to him.<br /><br />"Nothing prepares you for the shock of being able to bridge that cultural divide - I was shocked but so excited when it all made sense."<br /><br />Ariana decided to start fostering Pitbulls after losing her own Pitbull, Jack, at the age of seven to cancer in November 2022.<br /><br />Heartbroken, Ariana decided to make it her mission to help the breed however she could - as she realised they are "stigmatised".<br /><br />She said: "Before having Jack I never realised how compassionate Pitbulls are, they're so loving and loyal.<br /><br />"I wanted to make it my life mission to raise awareness of that because there is the stigma that they're all violent and can't be trained - which is not true."<br /><br />To help her heal from losing Jack, she put herself on the list to foster dogs - specifically Pitbulls.<br /><br />Monty was her very first foster, after taking him home to stay with her on December 30, 2022.<br /><br />But after a week there still seemed to be a "dissonance" whenever Ariana gave a command.<br /><br />However, after learning about his background - where he lived on a Spanish-speaking family's farm - Ariana took action.<br /><br />Thankfully Ariana's partner, Andrew Gomez, 27, who works for local law enforcement, is fluent in Spanish so was able to assist in figuring out whether Monty understood Spanish commands.<br /><br />After learning that he did, the pup has been so much happier and more confident, Ariana explained.<br /><br />She said Monty has even plucked up the confidence to start playing tug-of-war and wrestling with Ariana's other dog, Lucy, the same breed as Monty. <br /><br />Ariana said: "Now he is on the fast-track to becoming bilingual, we think.<br /><br />"It's weird - I had been telling my boyfriend for so long that I wanted to learn Spanish, and I downloaded Duolingo but never used it.<br /><br />"Andrew now laughs about it because having a Spanish speaking boyfriend never made me commit to Duolingo - but having a Spanish-speaking dog has.<br /><br />"The stigma says Pitbulls are violent and can't be trained which is obviously not true at all.<br /><br />"They are so responsible and loyal and we need more loving people to be taking in these magnificent dogs."
