Are you a dog person, or a cat person? How about a rabbit person? A parrot person? Well dear learners, today we are talking about a very special part of the family, pets! (music)
    Welcome learners, to the 12th episode of Easy English Navigator, a podcast made for English language learners. Today, for this short episode, we are going to talk about pets. We will learn about National Pet Day in the USA, and how we talk about looking after, or taking care of our pets, and a very short story about Jack and him taking care of his dog Buddy.
     Please remember to go and visit easyenglishnavigator.com, to find free resources related to this episode’s topic, including the transcript, vocabulary flashcards, a quiz, and speaking practice.
     Before we begin, let’s consider three questions, which you can find with today’s speaking practice. 1) Do you have a pet? If not, did you ever have a pet? 2) Do you think pets are important for families? 3) Ok learners, let’s begin!
     On April 11th people celebrate National Pet Day in the USA. Now, this is a new holiday, but it is still very popular. It began in 2006. A woman, Colleen Paige, wanted to help shelters. A shelter is a place for animals with no homes. Colleen wanted to help the shelters. So, she started National Pet Day. This helps to bring attention to the pet shelters. So in USA, if you want a pet, especially a dog or a cat, it is common to go to a shelter to adopt a pet that has been abandoned. It really is a great thing, and if you want a pet, I hope you consider going to a shelter. I hope your country supports these shelters.
     Ok, so if you have a pet, how do talk about taking care of it in English? Well, the most important thing that you have to, is to give your pet food. When we talk about this, we say that we feed our pet.