This week's talking point revolves around the topic of pets in general and more specifically on dogs, and how to behave towards them in this time and age. In preparation for your talking session, go over the questions below, so that you can sort out vocabulary problems beforehand and ideas flow easily when you get together with your friends.
Have you ever had a pet? If so, what's your experience like?
If not, does anyone in your close circle have a pet? What's their experience like?
What can you say about these animals? Cats, dogs, canaries, snakes, turtles, hamsters
Would you choose any of them to be your pet?
Discuss these points, all of which are related to pet-keeping:
• Do pets serve a useful function?
• Pet-owner relationships
• Keeping an animal at home: pleasures and duties
• The cost of keeping a pet
• Keeping exotic/dangerous animals at home
• Problems pets cause to people who are not their owners: dogs off a lead, dog mess, visitors at a home with a dog
• People who abandon their pets
• Animals that help people
To gain further insight into the topic, you can go over the following resources:
The Guardian article on a Wigan girl who was killed by dogs.
List of dogs banned in the UK.
You can also watch this video by Battersea Dogs and Cats home where we get to know everything we should know about dogs and how to feel safe around them.
