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Adopting Pets

Count and Non-Count Nouns

Date: Jun 28 2011

Themes: Pets

Grammar: Count and Noncount Nouns

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Intro

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A furry friend can bring a lot of joy into your life. Or it can bring a lot of chaos. It all depends on what kind of animal you end up with.

So how can you make sure that you’ll end up with a perfect pup or kitten? Some people prefer to purchase a pet from a pet store or breeder, so they can have more control over the type of animal and where it comes from. But there are a lot of great dogs and cats in need of homes in animal shelters. And adopting a pet from a shelter often means saving its life. Plus, the price is right. It’s free! Hear Amy and Jason talk about adopting pets.

Dialog

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Jason

Amy

Jason: So, I’m generally really in favor of adopting animals from shelters as opposed to, you know, from a puppy mill or a pet store.

Amy: Right.

Jason: Because there’s just so many pets. There’s thousands of stray cats in every city, so it’s like, if you can cut into that number a little bit, it seems like a good thing to do.

Amy: It’s so true, although, I have met people with animals that they adopted that turned out to have really horrible problems.

Jason: Well exactly, yeah, that’s what I was going to say. In theory it’s a really good idea, but sometimes people adopt pets that are difficult to control, because you don’t get the pet from early on, so you have to deal with whatever they’ve learned in the first part of their life.

Amy: And those first few weeks, from what I understand, are so important. I mean, that’s when animals really learn a lot of the behaviors that stay with them for life. So…I don’t know. I never thought that I would get a dog from a breeder or anything like that, but I actually did recently, and I have to say, she is the most perfect dog!

Jason: Oh my gosh. I think you just have to be really picky if you’re gonna go to the shelter.

Amy: It’s true. You have to be patient and wait until the perfect dog comes along.

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Discussion

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Jason supports adopting a pet from a shelter because there are so many animals out there that need of a good home. Amy agrees, even though she got her dog from a breeder.

Amy says that when you adopt a pet from a shelter, you might not know what kind of animal you’re going to get. Your pet could end up with health or behavior problems. So it’s important to be picky and wait for the perfect pet to come along.

Have you ever adopted a pet? Do you think it’s better to adopt a pet or buy one from a pet store?

Comments

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koxa

Ukraine

Of course it’s better to get your pet from a breeder because you have no doubts about his health and I think it’s very important. When you let someone enter your personal life you must know that everything will be fine with you and your close environment….animals are very dangerous according to medicine…so you choice will depend on how risky you are)

Omar alsaqqaf

Yemen

Actually I have adopted a cat when I was 15 then I get rid of it, because I get that feeling that I’m like a mother or something like that …so in that time I decided to take care of myself till I get married ,and have children.

trailo_hathanh

Viet Nam

No, I have never adopt a pet before. But one thing that could make you nauseating that in my country people eat almost of animals.I am sorry to say that. But it is true. We eat dog, cat and even pigeon. And you know dog meat, cat meat are famous food in my country.But one thing you need to know that a few people in my country raise the dog or cat for real to become their friend and they don’t eat them. That kind of dog or cat are different with the local ones (eventhoug they are still the dog or cat)What do you thing about that?

andee1

China

ya sure. when i was in primary school, i ever adopted a persian cat its eyes is blue and another is green. then my family also adopted another cat it ended up with food, because it had dead mouse. so till now i also don’t wanna adopt stray cats and dogs, it make me get sad.