Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Do you love animals but not have a pet of your own? Maybe petsitting is the job for you! You can stay at someone’s house and take care of their cat, dog, bird, or whatever pet needs some attention.
Depending on what kind of pet it is, and how high maintenance the owner is, petsitting can either be a lot of work or not much work at all. Cats might only need to be fed a few times a day, while dogs might need multiple walks. Either way, expect lots of calls from anxious owners, checking up on how their animal companion is doing. Find out about Mason and Greta’s experiences with petsitting in this pets English lesson.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Mason: Is it a bad thing that I look forward to our friends leaving, so we can go watch their dogs?
Greta: No. I sometimes think about the fact that I have been trying to get them to put it in writing that we can have their dogs.
Mason: You want to inherit the dogs.
Greta: I want to inherit dogs. The thing that freaks me out the most about petsitting is that there’s always the random possibility that an animal that you’re taking care of could die.
Mason: Yes.
Greta: And then you killed your friend’s pet, even if it had nothing to do with you. It’s a lot of responsibility.
Mason: Yeah, but the thing is, is it’s also all the benefits of having a pet with none of the responsibility.
Greta: Except keeping it alive.
Mason: Well, the best part before, in my single days, was you’d get to watch somebody’s dog, and you’d get to go take it for runs in the park, or walks down the street, and let me tell you, you get a lot of good attention…
Greta: Oh, I’m sure you do.
Mason: ...with a handsome young gentleman taking a cute little dog for a walk. Because if there’s one thing that dog walking says, it’s that you’re responsible.
Greta: It’s true.
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Mason and Greta are pleased when certain friends of theirs go out of town, because they get to petsit their dogs. They like the dogs so much, in fact, that they would want to inherit the dogs if the owners ever got rid of them.
Petsitting is not all fun, though. It’s a lot of responsibility. Greta says that she’s always scared of what might happen if the pet she was taking care of died.
Mason agrees, but says it’s not that much responsibility. Petsitting can also just be about walking down the street looking good with a cute dog. And even if he’s not feeling responsible, he’ll look responsible to the people who see him.
Have you ever petsat for a friend’s pet? If you have pets, who takes care of them when you go away?
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