Keep in mind the difference between the Spanish “rr,” which is a heavily rolled “r,” and the Spanish “r,” which is slightly rolled. “Pero” (without the rolled “r”) simply means “but,” and it’s easy to get confused with “perro. ” Learning to roll your “r”s can take some practice, but is very doable. Practice saying “pero” and “perro” out loud, and pretty soon you’ll have mastered a crucial skill for speaking Spanish. Sample sentence: “¡Que hermoso perro!” (“KAY er-MOH-so PEH-rro!”): “What a beautiful dog!”

In Spanish, “-ito” and “-ita” (for feminine nouns) are diminutive suffixes. This means that they’re an affectionate way to refer to something that is cute or small. Sample sentence: “¿Puedo acariciar a tu perro?” (“Poo-EH-doh ah-car-ees-i-AR ah too peh-RRI-toh?”): “Can I pet your dog?”

Sample sentence: “¿Cómo se llama tu cachorro?” (“KOH-moh say YA-ma too ka-CHO-rro?”): “What’s your puppy’s name?”

Sample sentence: “¡Amo este cachorrito!” (“AH-mo ES-tay ka-cho-RRI-toh”): “I love this little puppy!”

Spanish is a romance language, which means that most of its vocabulary is derived from Latin. In English, we also have a word that comes from Latin: “canine. ” Sample sentence: “Pancho es un can muy inteligente. ” (“PAHN-cho ess oon KAHN mooey een-tell-ee-HEN-tay”): “Pancho is a very intelligent dog. ”

Sample sentence: “Simba es mi chucho. ” (“SEEM-ba ess mee CHOO-cho”): “Simba is my mutt. ”

Just like most Spanish nouns, you can make “peludo” even more affectionate by saying “peludito” (“pel-oo-DEE-toh”). Sample sentence: “¡Ven aquí, peludo!” (“VEN ah-KEY, pel-OO-doh”): “Come here, fuzzy!”

Sample sentence: “¡Mi lomito se ve tan lindo!” (“Mee low-MEE-tow say vay tahn LIN-doh”): “My dog looks so cute!”

Sample sentence: “El es una mezcla de sabueso y labrador. ” (“El ess oon-a mess-klah day sa-BOOEH-so ee lab-rah-DOR”): “He is a mix of hound dog and labrador. ”

Sample sentence: “Rosa tuvo un lazarillo desde que tenía 18 años. ” (“RO-sah TOO-vo oon la-sa-RI-yo DES-day KAY ten-EE-ah di-ACE-y-OCH-oh AN-yos. ”): “Rosa had a seeing-eye dog every since she was 18 years old. ”

Sample sentence: “Donde está el guau guau?” (“DOAN-day ess-TA el goo-OW goo-OW”): “Where is the woof woof (doggy)?”

The popular etymology for “firulais” comes from the experience of Mexican migrants to the United States. Migrants who came with their dogs were informed by border authorities that their dogs should be “free of lice,” which eventually became “firulais” in Spanish. Sample sentence: “Hay un firulais en la calle. ” (“EYE oon fee-ROO-lice ehn la KAI-ye”): “There’s a dog in the street. ”

Mastín (mahs-TEEN): Mastiff Pastor (PAHS-tor): Shepherd Salchicha (sal-CHI-cha): Dachshund (“salchicha” also means sausage in Spanish!) Dálmata (DAL-ma-ta): Dalmatian Retriver (re-TREE-vehr): Retriever