Top Marks For Clever Collie
Cent the Border Collie was brought to the RSPCA centre in Oldham, Greater Manchester in September when his Polish owners could no longer look after him.
Staff initially thought that he may be deaf but after testing his hearing, they realised there was language barrier.
Animal care assistant Luke Johnson said: “At first, we were baffled because Cent couldn’t understand what anyone was saying to him. It was only a few days later when it dawned on us that he must be used to hearing commands in Polish.”
Staff at the centre searched on the Internet for some basic translations and also asked the former owner’s family for assistance. Four months later, after using a reward-based training method, Cent is now bilingual and responds to commands in both English and Polish.
This is not the first time staff at the Oldham branch have come across a bilingual pet as they previously had to retrain a cat, which had Asian owners and only responded to commands in their native tongue.
(Photo courtesy of RSPA.)
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is inviting applications from veterinary students to attend a one-week extramural studies (EMS) placement in July 2026.
