A six-month-old Rottweiler puppy has been causing a dilemma for his new owners because he will only respond to commands given in a Northern Irish accent - and won't listen to their English ones.
Jay Shore, 35, and Megan King, 33, brought their new dog - named Paddy - over to their home in Merseyside in December last year, after he had spent the first few months of his life living in Megan's home town of Armagh in Northern Ireland.
But Jay, from Formby, Merseyside, was left scratching his head in confusion when it became apparent that Paddy wouldn't listen to a word he said, despite the pooch eagerly taking commands from Megan.
It didn't take long for Jay to realise what the problem was, as he discovered he needed to switch up his accent and put on a fake Northern Irish one in order for Paddy to understand him.
And when Megan, who grew up in Armagh, heard her partner's accent, she was left in stitches.
She said: "My parents bought him for me because my dog passed away last year. We were waiting for his vaccines to kick in before we brought him over so he was brought up in a Northern Irish house with an accent. They taught him all of the basic commands.
"Jay obviously doesn't have the accent that Paddy responds to. He wasn't listening to Jay and we couldn't work it out. He was very confused. I understood his confusion. He wasn't responding and Jay suddenly wondered if it was because he was used to a Northern Irish accent.
"It was hilarious when we realised, we both nearly wet ourselves laughing. He struggles with all the commands until it's done in a Northern Irish accent. He won't come in from the garden unless Jay says 'come in now' in the accent."
Megan, who works as a lab technician, also said Jay has picked up on the Northern Irish accent over the course of their six-year relationship, but said that to avoid any further confusion, she and her boyfriend are teaching Paddy hand commands.
"Hopefully he'll get used to Jay's accent and now we've realised what the issue is we can work on it," she said.
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