When playing with a ball, or jumping up excitedly when she hears the jangling of her lead, Della looks like a normal dog. But it is only when her owners take her for a walk to the shops that her talents become apparent.
Never one for barking, the Staffordshire bull terrier prefers to "chat" to passers-by. "When I first heard her, I ran out because I thought it was a baby crying or a child in trouble," said her owner Ian Suggitt of Hornsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire. "When I realised it was Della, I thought she must be choking herself or hurt.
YouTube link.
"But she wasn't – she just makes the weirdest noise." A cross between a baby crying or a toddler shouting is how most people think she sounds. Although she cannot say words, some of her noises sound like "mama" and "hello". Ian's son Lewis, 10, said: "I think she sounds like a sheep, but without the 'baaa'."
The Suggitt family got Della from an RSPCA rescue centre about three years ago. It was not until Ian, 38, took Della for her first outing to the shops that he noticed the noise. He now says he gets lots of comments about Della, who is about five years old. Despite loving the limelight when she visits the shops, Della does not make any other noises. Unusually, she never barks.
1 comment:
She does sound like she is saying 'hello', and kind of like she may be constipated.
Post a Comment