Do the dogs speak English AND German?

So my neighbor has a dog (I KNOW! It's amazing!) and every time it's out it comes running to see us at their gate.

Did I mention that we left our dog and cat with my mom & dad in California [we still don't know if we'll actually get them back, since we have quoted my mother as saying..."when you come back and get a new dog"...really? I thought we owned a dog!? ). Well because we are emotionally starved for the kind of attention only pets can give you, we all oogle and ahh over this dog.

Their kids probably look out the window and say (little kid speaking in German) "mama, those silly Americans are out petting our dog again!". German mama answers back, "Don't go outside honey, you'll only encourage them!".

Well the big question I have today is . . .[ready for it?]. . . what language should I talk to the dog in?

At 1st my spiel just came gushing out in English "OH a dog! Look kids a dog! Hi puppy! Hi sweetie! Oh your so cute! We have a dog in California now, we miss her so much! Oh your so happy!" {did you say it with that baby talk sound? You really gotta go back and repeat it like you're talking to a baby to get the full effect.}

But then I remembered I'm in Germany and the dog might not understand what I'm saying. So now I try hard to talk to it in German. "Hallo hund! Ist gut? Ja, ist gut hund!" and then I can't say anymore because that is the limit to my German dog talking to skills. I'm sure the dog is like wow, she's talking to me, awesome, she must be from here!

So now I'm just so confused...do the dogs I stop to lavish attention on whether or not their owners want me to, do they understand what I'm trying to say? I think I have to keep working on my German. After all, I would hate to embarrass myself!!