Hi team,

David, I'm glad to hear that you have solved your computer emergency, but I'm sorry to hear that your parents' dog died. Dogs' lives(and most other pets' lives) are shorter than humans', so pet loss is something you have to face if you keep a pet, isn't it? I've experienced it several times.

As for the topic, we had two dogs when I lived with my parents. One was a mongrel and the other was Shiba. They came to my parents' house(Can I say 'our house'?) when I was in elementary school, and they died when I was around 20, so I think they lived long. I don't have any pets at the moment, but my father has three dogs. One is a West Highland White Terrier called 'Ran', another is a Pekingese called 'Rin', and the other is a Welsh Terrier called 'Ron'. Their names are confusing, aren't they? I often mess them up!

＜What animals do you think make the best pets?
I think the best pet is a dog.(well, hopefully a well trained dog) Dogs are loyal and faithful to their master, understand their master's feelings and language, and can be a great friend. I love dogs.

By the way, my sister is also allergic to cats. She says that her eyes get itchy just by looking at them!

See you soon,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2009年8月 4日 21:17

Hi David,
I'm relieved to hear that everything with your computer is back to normal, however I'm sorry to hear about your family's dog.

My family haven't had any pets since I was born, though I hear that they had a dog before that. My mother doesn't like any animals, and she always said to me, "Watch out!" and "Look out!" when an animal, even a small dog, came to me or was near me. I had grewn up like this, so I'm not sure that I like animals or not. However I like to watch them, especially capybara.;-)

Anyway, I'm sorry, but I don't think that I have a lot to say about this topic.

I'm going to Yokohama on business tomrrow night and will come back on Thursday night.

Bye for now,

Maki

•  Maki
• 2009年8月 4日 22:46

Hi David and everyone,

David, your parents' dog died! She was old, but your parents must be sad...
Were you bitten your nose? Maybe the dog was puppy.

I didn't know that the word 'bitch' has a lot of bad meanings, so I was surprised.
They don't say so in Japan, maybe.

Speaking of pets, before I had some pets, but I haven't had any pets now.
Example I had three dogs, two parakeets and a black rabbit.
Each pet had given me a lot of great memories.
The parakeet （小桜インコ）was the most cute, she was orange and yellow green. she cut some of paper slender with its beak, and put it among its wings a lot of, so she was dressed up.
This is my pets story.

Hi Milky, nice to meet you! (My greeting words is belated.)
eeko

•  eeko
• 2009年8月 5日 08:47

Hi David and everyone,

David, I’m sorry to hear that your parents’ dog died; even though you know she is old,
she was a very important member of your family, right?

Speaking of pets, I’m a dog person.
When I was growing up, we had two dogs in my family; one is a Shiba called　“メリー”
and the other is a Spitz called “ ポチ”.
メリーwas female and very calm and gentle(I’m not sure this is a proper word for a dog.) , and we were good friends、 whereas ポチwas male and always baking. I guess he wanted to play with me because he was a baby dog, but I was also small, so he scared me. Anyway he didn't bite me because I didn't get closer to him!
When my sons were kids, there were a lot of insects in my house. I’m not sure if these are pets or not, every year of this season they took something home such as unicorn beetles, mantis, a crawfish,….We had even the lava of beetle and butterfly.
< What animals do you think make the best pets?

I also think dogs are the best as Tomo said.

By the way, as for the word “bitch”, I knew its meaning. I hear it in the movie with other four-letter words.
< Maki,
You are having a hectic days, aren't you?

Bye for now,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2009年8月 5日 10:37

Hello David and everyone,

I am sorry to hear that your parents’ dog died. In your dog story, I guessed what “put down” meant, but not for sure, I looked up the meaning and was shocked in several ways. How simple you can say it!

Yesterday one of my colleagues gave me a bundle of old cat magazines because I am a cat lover. When I was skimming one of them, the illustration of cats on a certain feature article made me realize something. I ran to my bookshelf to get David’s first two books; 英語と仲直りできる本、もしも英語が話せたら with certainty. As I expected, the same illustrator worked on them. I have liked these two books not only the contents, but also their pictures. Especially, the illustration of a Japanese student saying, “Give me English!” in a classroom is my favorite (I would say “ツボ” is the best word in Japanese)! Also lovely cats appear here and there in the books. Since just after reading the topic “Pets”, this tiny coincidence made me write my comment.

I agree that they say dogs are the best friends with human being(I also like dogs), but if you have no allergy, I think cats are easier to live with. My cat has never done it anywhere else, but his own bathroom! I have a lot more things I want to talk about my cat, but I could not stop myself talking and would bother you like my friends!

Have a nice summer,

taco

•  taco
• 2009年8月 5日 15:21

Hi David and everyone,

I'm also happy to hear that you have solved your computer emergency.I was in trouble because my computer had broken.I hope my computer and yours will start smoothly!

By the way I will tell you about my pet's story.

When I was 6 years old,my family had a dog.

I wanted to have dogs for a long time,but I couldn't have them because I had an allergic disease.One day an accident happened!Our house was broken into.My parents thought about a countermeasure.As a result my dog became my family.(Fortunately I was gradually gaining strength.)She had a big eyes and beautiful fur.I grew up with her.She was the best for me.I had a good time with her for 19 years.But I wanted to be with her more.
Her death is very shocked.But I'm happy to see her.
She gave me a lot of happiness!

Today's my commet is all.
See you soon!

Nao

•  Nao
• 2009年8月 5日 16:49

Hi David and everyone,

David: I'm glad to hear that your computer trouble had removed.
But I'm sorry to hear the news of your family's dog.

By the way, this week's topic is pets.
Well,how should I put it?
I have soft spot for dogs. Once I pet a stray dog it is hard to leave them.
So I'm making it a rule to do not pet stray dogs.
Even if it's so, I occasionally can't help petting them.
To have a pet means you have to have a responsibility for their life.
Unfortunately,I can't do that.
I can't even take care of own life,let alone dogs.
So I'm having fun seeing T.V about dogs.

•  Kazu
• 2009年8月 5日 19:01

Hi David

I am sorry to hear about your parent’s dog.
Speaking of pets, I have never had any pets. When I was a child we lived in an apartment, where you were not allowed to have pets. To tell the truth, I don’t like dogs and cats very much. I have a bad experience relating to dogs. I was chased by a big dog when I was 6 or 7. Since then I am a bit afraid of dogs, so I always stay away from them.
My youngest sister who lives in U.S had a dog. She was bulldog and called “May”. She was very patient dog. One day she was locked out and we did not notice she was out of the house until my nephew came from school. She had been sitting in front of the house. My nephew said “Poor May! How long have you been there?” Maybe she was out about 2 hours. She was the only dog that I liked.

> What animals do you think make the best pets?
As I mentioned earlier, I don’t like dogs and cats, so I don’t think the best pet is neither of them. Come to think of it, I never thought that I wanted to have a pet. I like watching wild animals on TV, and that’s enough for me.

Bye for now

•  amo
• 2009年8月 6日 00:20

訂正(冠詞を忘れていました。）
　 Maybe the dog was puppy.
→ Maybe the dog was the puppy.

•  eeko
• 2009年8月 6日 06:14

Mmm...Pets...
Sorry. I have no idea.

Appoh

•  Appoh
• 2009年8月 6日 08:29

correction

She was very patient dog.
=>She was a very patient dog.

I don’t like dogs and cats, so I don’t think the best pet is neither of them.
=>I don’t like dogs and cats, so I think the best pet is neither of them.

•  amo
• 2009年8月 6日 08:59

Hi David and everyone,
I'm sorry to hear that the dog of David's parents died. I don't have any pets,but I had a dog when I was young.

Some friends have missed their dogs since their dogs died. A friend of mine keeps her dog's picture on her cellphone. Another friend of mine said that she wasn't going to keep a new dog after her dog lived to be over 14. She said that if the dog had a long life,it was happy though,she couldn't take care of the old dog. She will become in her seventies in ten years. Pets are your family and friends.

Hi Maki,
You don't know if you like animals,because you haven't had any pets. That's an interesting idea.
私の場合、知らないことでも好き嫌いを決めているかもと思いました。横道にそれました。

By the way,do you walk dogs when it is snowing?

•  May
• 2009年8月 6日 15:13

Hi David and everyone,
I'm sorry to hear that the dog of David's parents died. I don't have any pets,but I had a dog when I was young.

Some friends have missed their dogs since their dogs died. A friend of mine keeps her dog's picture on her cellphone. Another friend of mine said that she wasn't going to keep a new dog after her dog lived to be over 14. She said that if the dog had a long life,it was happy though,she couldn't take care of the old dog. She will become in her seventies in ten years. Pets are your family and friends.

Hi Maki,
You don't know if you like animals,because you haven't had any pets. That's an interesting idea.
私の場合、知らないことでも好き嫌いを決めているかもと思いました。横道にそれました。

By the way,do you walk dogs when it is snowing?

•  May
• 2009年8月 6日 15:17

Hi David and everyone,
I'm sorry to hear that your parent's dog died. I think that she wasn't just a pet. To your family, she was a member of them.

I don't like dogs since I was bitten by a dog when I was a child. I'm afraid of dogs even if they are small, so I have never had dogs. About cats, I'm not afraid of cats, and I don't have an allergy to them, but I have never had cats. My mother doesn't like animals, so my family have never had pets.
But I have had a goldfish when I was an elementary school student. (I'm not sure if the goldfish is pet, though.) I got it at "縁日". My family thought that the goldfish will die soon, so we didn't buy a goldfish bowl. We put it in a washbowl, and we put the washbowl on top of shoe locker. Contrary to our expectations, the goldfish lived for a year. After a while, we called it "おしん". We don't know whether it was a male or a female, but we thought it must be a female because it was patient. One winter's morning, I was surprised because I saw that the water surface in the washbowl was freezing, but she was swimming under it. Even so, she kept alive. We put tap water in it, and she was in a washbowl to the death. She was great, right?

Amica

•  Amica
• 2009年8月 6日 15:28

Ｈｉ　Ｍａｙ

Ｉ　ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔ　ｔｈａｔ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｆｒｉｅｎｄ’ｓ　ｓｔｏｒｙ　ｉｓ　ｓｉｍｉｌａｒ　ｔｏ　ｍｉｎｅ．Ｉ　ａｌｓｏ　ｈａｖｅ　ｋｅｐｔ　ｍｙ　ｄｏｇ’ｓ　ｐｉｃｔｕｒｅ　ｏｎ　ｍｙ　cellphone　ｓｉｎｃｅ　ｍｙ　ｄｏｇ　ｗａｓ　ｄｅａｄ．Ａｎｄ　Ｉ　ａｌｓｏ　ｗｉｓｈ　ｌｉｆｅ　ｏｆ　ｄｏｇｓ　ｗａｓ　ｍｕｃｈ　ｌｏｎｇｅｒ．
Ｍｙ　ｄｏｇ　ｉｓ　ｎｏｔ　ａ　ｍｅｒｅ　ｐｅｔ　ｆｏｒ　ｍｅ．Ｓｈｅ　ｉｓ　certainly　ｍｙ　ｆｒｉｅｎｄ　ａｎｄ　ｆａｍｉｌｙ　ａｓ　ｙｏｕ　ｓａｉｄ．

Ｎａｏ

•  Ｎａｏ
• 2009年8月 6日 16:07

Hi everyone,
Last night I watched a TV program relating to ' Pets,dogs'; ' Pets are crying'.
According to the program, about 100,000 dogs are abandoned and are killed in a gas chamber every year.
People pamper dogs and once they can't take care of　the dog for some reasons, they abandon. It is really a sad story, isn't it?
A host also mentioned the breeders,comparing in Japan and in the UK.
There are a lot of differences between two countries. Breeding in the UK has a long history and are well organized not to hurt the body of dogs,whereas breeding in Japan are tend to be focused just on' breeding as many times as possible' and are more concerned with the profit than dog's health.
As Nao and May said, there are a lot of people taking good care of pets,but it is also true there are a lots of pets treated badly.

*　昨夜ペットとしての犬の置かれた現状についてのテレビ番組を見ました。毎年10万匹の犬が飼い主の何らかの事情により捨てられているという現状、また、ブリーダーの利益中心の犬に対する扱い、番組ではイギリスのブリーダーの基準と比較して述べられていましたが、そうして体を壊していく犬の状況など、厳しい現状でした。

Hi Amica,
You called goldfish'おしん’? haha..!!

Amica's story about dog reminds me of my experience relating to' a dog'.
It was not my pet but a dog that I met on my way back home from school. I was 8 or something. When I was walking home with my friends , a dog was running to us over there, so we run, run, and run into the rice paddy to escape and the dog chased, chased and chased after us. At last the owner of the dog came to us and apologized with laughing.With laughing!

Bye for now,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2009年8月 6日 17:05

訂正；we run, run and run into
→　we ran , ran and ran into

run の活用は、run-ran-run でしたね＾＾；）

Anne

•  Anne
• 2009年8月 6日 17:18

Ｉ’ｍ　ｓｏｒｒｙ　ｔｈａｔ　Ｉ　ｓｅｎｄ　ａ　ｃｏｍｍｅｎｔ　ｎｏｔ　ｒｅｌａｔｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｔｏｐｉｃ．

Ａｎｎｅさんのコメントを読んでｒｕｎ-ｒａｎ-ｒｕｎの発音がいまいちわかっていないことがわかりました。
しいて日本語で書くなら「ラン・リャン・ラン」でしょうか？

Ｎａｏ

•  Ｎａｏ
• 2009年8月 6日 17:34

Hi David and everyone,

First of all, let me re-write some parts of my last comment.

＜Dogs are loyal and faithful to their master, understand their master's feelings and language, and can be a great friend. → Dogs are loyal and faithful to their owner, understand their owner's feelings and language, and can be a great friend.

I'm not sure, but I guess the word 'master' is not wrong here because there is a kind of master-servant relationship(主従関係) between a dog and its owner, but I want to change the word to 'owner'.

Speaking of dogs, I have been bitten by a dog, too. When I was 6 or 7, one of our neighbors had a big black dog. One day, I tried to give him some snack, and then he ate it with my right hand! I was very shocked, and I had to go to hospital and get the cut stitched up, but I still love dogs. I think the dog was just going to have the snack on my hand, so it was just an accident.

As I mentioned, we got two dogs when I was in elementary school, but before that, we didn't have any pets, so I had always wanted to have one. I often picked up a stray dog or cat, and I asked my mother if we could keep it, but her answer was always 'No'. One day, a woman came to my house with a puppy and asked us if we could keep the dog. Of course, I really wanted to keep the puppy, but I thought my mother would say no. But she said yes! Actually, the puppy had only three legs. I mean, he was missing one of his feet(ankles). I think I hear that his mother bit him, but I'm not sure if it was true or not. Anyway, I finally got a dog, and I was very happy with him.

My father has a lot of pets now. He has three dogs, three parrots(One of them has the same name as my daughter!), tropical fish, and some other birds. I can't remember what kind of birds they are. I'm worried that my father's house is becoming a zoo!

See you soon,

Tomo

PS Nao、run〔rʌ'n〕-ran〔ræ'n〕-run〔rʌ'n〕 の発音を日本語で書くのは難しいですが、〔ʌ〕は短いア、〔æ〕はアとエの中間＆長めの音なので、Naoの書いた音で雰囲気出ているんじゃないでしょうか＾＾　カタカナはダメ！とDavidに言われそうですが。。(笑)

•  Tomo
• 2009年8月 6日 18:29

Hi Anne

I have watched the same kind of TV program a few years ago.
I could not believe my eyes because I did not know that so many dogs were abandoned.
I don’t understand the owners feelings if you like animals why you could abandon animals!! Even I do not like dogs and cats if I had a pet I would keep it until it dies, I suppose. You are right! There are a lot of people who take good care of their pets, on the other hand, there are a lot of people who treat their pets badly.

Hi Amica

Your story of “goldfish” made me laugh, and now I remember that we used to have goldfishes when I was a child. I don’t remember how they came to our house, but I remember they died one by one.

•  amo
• 2009年8月 7日 00:45

All,

I have two stories.

First, My parents likes birds, especially, budgerigars. Ever since I can remember I have been loving budgerigars but I do not have budgerigars now.

The bird that was called 'mimi' spoke Japanese.
He said , "Okoshini!!" and then, he flied up to the 2nd floor where I was sleeping.
And, he said, "Oniichan, Okite!! Okite!!" to me with rubbing his beak to my mouse.
Sometimes he fell asleep on my breast with letting his head fall back against my chin when he came to awake me. He was so cute.

The next is about a stray cat.
You might say that a stray cat is not a pet. ;-)

There was a stray cat called 'Tomo'.
'Tomo' is from Karaha Tomomi and the cat was named by a neighborhood girl, I guess.

Someday Tomo was affected by a disease so we went to an animal hospital with she.
She required hospitalization but she recovered soon.

After the event, she began to come our house.
In other day, she gave birth to 4 kitties in our house.
They were so cute!
Before delivering, there is one funny story but I would like to get to that next opportunity.

I do not think I can say which the best pet is because they were too cute to narrow down.

#I have snails x3, unicorn beetles x4 and Japanese freshwater crabs x3 now.
# Snails are so cute, aren't they?

Yoshi-

•  Yoshi
• 2009年8月 7日 07:11

Ｈｉ　Ｔｏｍｏ　

Ｔｈａｎｋ　ｙｏｕ　ｆｏｒ　ａｎｓｗｅｒｉｎｇ！
確かにＤａｖｉｄ先生にはカタカナは駄目と、怒られるかもしれませんね。。でも、発音記号だけだとわかりにくくて；
自然と色々な「ア」の発音ができるようになりたいです。

Ｎａｏ

•  Ｎａｏ
• 2009年8月 7日 14:17

Hi Nao,

発音は難しいですね。Tomoが分かりやすく説明してくれていますが、appleの、〔æ〕と同じなのでそう思って発音すると分かりやすいと思います＾＾）
同じ「ア」でも口のあけ方、のどの開き方は色々ですものね。

Anne

•  Anne
• 2009年8月 7日 16:31

Ｈｉ　Ａｎｎｅ

ａｐｐｌｅの｢ア」と同じ発音という風に考えると、わかりやすくなりました＾＾
（私が正しくａｐｐｌｅと発音できているかも不安なのですが；）
でも、こうやって考えながら発音したりすることで少しはよくなっていくかなと思いました。

Ｔｈａｎｋ　ｙｏｕ　ｆｏｒ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｃｏｍｍｅｎｔ！

Ｎａｏ

•  Ｎａｏ
• 2009年8月10日 11:17

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