Dogs

There’s probably nothing like petting a pooch or cuddling up with a playful pup. Some say it can be truly therapeutic. They are commonly called man’s best, and most faithful friends. Plus, they come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, from tiny to tremendous! We’ll discover the diverse world of dogs on this week’s episode of FYI!

Transcript

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there's probably nothing like petting a pooch or cuddling up with a playful pup some say it can be truly therapeutic they are commonly called man's best and most faithful friends plus they come in a wide range of shapes and sizes from tiny to tremendous we'll discover the diverse world of dogs on this week's episode of f y ah welcome to for your info english you got it[Music] hello hello hello and welcome to this another exciting edition of f y i for your english the show where we delve into a different topic every week and this week in case you haven't figured it out yet we're gonna take a look at man's best friend and when i say man i mean woman too i should say humankind's best friend and even if you don't have dogs we've all loved to look at puppies and pet dogs and well nobody likes when they jump up on you but let's be honest there are some things about puppies and dogs in general that humans find irresistible and i thought it was only fair that if we looked at cats we would also have to look at dogs too and many of you who know me know that i'm more of a dog person than a cat person which is why i chose cats first i wanted to be challenged i wanted somebody to convince me that cats were worth it quebalian well at least as much as dogs and that someone was suzanne so a nice shout out to our friend and patron suzanne who is one of the greatest english teachers i know and if you haven't heard that episode on cats it is brilliant well at least suzanne's part i can't speak of my own part but i can i can speak for suzanne and say she sounds great what a what a beautiful speaker lovely speaking voice and you want to know the craziest part suzanne doesn't believe it herself so why don't you guys do that if you haven't heard it maybe you've heard it already if not re-listen to it it's the episode on cats and if you like it send susanna message on twitter she's english smarts and i'm sure you'll make her day as always we're going to take a look at the intro now because there's tons of vocabulary to look at now it started out with some panting that's right i think you say haleat when dogs are out of breath they pant it's a little bit different because we don't really use it with humans very often it's a word that we associate with dogs and now that you know the word pants well maybe you'll know or get this joke that i'm about to tell you how do you know that a dog is cold because he has a coat and pants do you get it no i just explained pants so he has a coat a coat is pelage and pants no es pantalones so do you get it now how do you know when a dog is cold he has a coat and pants all right i promise i won't tell too many more bad jokes throughout the course of the show i started off by saying there's probably nothing like petting a pooch and this is a really cool word because we pet a pet sos it's easy to remember and the word pooch what is a pooch well a pooch is a loving way to say a dog then i said we love to cuddle up to cuddle up i think you say in spanish it means to get close and to touch each other it's what you do with your family when you watch tv or with your girlfriend or your significant other you cuddle up but this time i'm talking about cuddling up with a playful pup and the word playful is juggeton and the word pop is short for the word puppy which is kachoro and remember it's pronounced puppy not poopy will somebody please remind my wife of that she had a a very embarrassing story which i'm i'm sure i've told you about before and if i haven't told you about it well maybe i'll tell you about it a little bit later on in the episode because well we've got a lot of stuff to cover today then i said some say it can be truly therapeutic and i think you can figure out what this word means therapeutic that's right people say that there have been studies that show that having a dog can help you if you're sad if you're lonely depressed and even if you have a physical ailment and we'll talk a little bit about the the therapeutic aspect a little bit later on too then i said they are commonly called man's best friend and most faithful friends plus they come in a wide range of shapes and sizes so the word faithful that i said is field and plus is ademas in fact that's the that's the symbol we use when we say dos mas dos two plus two but we use it in conversation when adding something so you could say in addition or plus they come in a wide range of shapes and sizes from tiny and tiny as to tremendous and then you heard the sound of a bark dogs bark you say lavrar in spanish and my daughter knows that one she says the dog is barking house[Music] the dog is barking and the ducks are quacking but in the end what is she doing guys my daughter is imitating what she hears and she has never heard her daddy say cooking walking because we don't we say walking cooking and then i wrapped up by saying we'll discover the diverse world of dogs on this week's episode of f-y-i that's right the diverse world of dogs so what's the answer to the question who wins cats or dogs i know you're thinking that right now and i'm gonna try and be unbiased no sis gado going to try and just look at the figures and read them to you and we'll see who rules the animal kingdom well as far as pets are concerned i think lions would be the rulers of the animal kingdom but you'll be surprised people have had some weird pets they've found alligators caimanes in people's manhattan apartments which in my opinion i don't think that's a good idea i think wild animals should stay in the wild now cats dogs these kind of animals they've been domesticated so that's a different story well before we look at the statistics let's start out by saying that pet ownership this is owning a pet in the united states has risen steadily and steadily as constantly in recent decades they say a higher percentage of households own pets today compared to 40 years ago and it's evident we love our pets in the united states and in the bonus part i'm gonna tell you guys all about my pets that i've had in my life and my experiences with dogs as well but let's just put it this way my mom is one of those people that goes overboard separate okay she's not as bad as paris hilton you know carrying the dog around in a gucci bag but my mom you know she made sure that our dog was well groomed that they cut his nails and his hair and that he even had his pet insurance so as he had an insurance policy and of course regular visits to the vet i mean why not these little buggers deserve it they say that 67 of american households own at least one kind of pet and who's the winner did you guys guess already did you say dogs did you say cats well both guesses are wrong it's freshwater aquarium fish it is the undisputed champion of pets in the united states but second on our list is let's get a drum roll over here[Music] dogs are the clear winner my amigos 53 of american households own dogs and that is roughly 63.4 million cats come in third place with 35.7 percent of households owning a cat and that is 42.7 million so again dogs 63.4 million households own a dog and 42.7 million own a cat now those numbers are astronomical however you slice it or dice it we love pets and pets are here to stay but we're gonna focus primarily on dogs today so what are the pros and cons of getting a dog because sure dogs are cute they're funny they're great for instagram pictures right if you're an influencer in fact there are dogs like doug the pug that has millions of followers on instagram and the word pug is carlino i'm very familiar with this breed the word breed is ratha well let's start off by looking at the pros some of the advantages of having a dog and i can tell you all of these from my personal experience now the first one is they are loyal a dog will give you unconditional love it doesn't care what you look like if your clothes don't match it is gonna come up and lick you and kiss you and be so happy to see you when you walk in the door in fact i don't think my daughter my mother or anybody my wife has ever greeted me the way my dog seymond greets me when i walk in the door it is the ultimate display of love when you see them wagging their tail equidado con estan we don't say to move their tail we say they wag their tail so unconditional love who doesn't like that another pro which i mentioned before in the intro is that you can snuggle up this is a synonym for cuddle up s.o.s with your favorite blanket and dogs like scratches they love when you scratch their belly cuando le rascas la tripa and it's therapeutic it's good for the dog and it's good for you as well and i saw this firsthand how did i see this first hand well a friend of mine when i was in college her mother was suffering and still suffers from ms multiple sclerosis and we got her a dog and we adopted a dog and we decided that we would keep the dog at her mom's house and we would help her mom take care of the dog because the mom couldn't get around easily and i saw an instant change i mean instantly this woman had a reason to get out of bed had a reason to go to the kitchen and and move even though it was really tough for her and it's like something changed her eyes lit up and it gave her a sense of purpose it gave her a companion so i know that dogs can help you they can help elderly people they can help sick people and they can help people who just need a little companionship i've seen this firsthand it was miraculous to say the least another thing is for those of you who are looking to stay in shape well think about it if you've got to walk a dog two or three times a day you're probably doing three or four kilometers and you're not even realizing it so you can get some exercise get some fresh air and at the same time you're taking the dog out to do their business and even in the winter when i know it can be tough and you're thinking it's cold it's it's snowing outside well that dog still has to go out and i guess that's one of the the cons as well right taking the dog out can be a pro or a con another pro is that dogs can sense danger and they are very protective of their territory as we say they're territorial they're protective of their territory and of their owners sus duenos as well and then the social aspect huh the social aspect well i remember in new york when we had monique monique was a mini pinscher it was a great way to meet other people especially other dog owners and non-dog owners i mean every time i walked around the block with monique with this mini pincher i was meeting girls i was making friends and so it's a great way it's a what we would call an ice breaker because normally people don't come up to you and talk to you in new york unless you have an extremely cute dog in tow and in tow esque in fema or contigo now i'm sure you guys can think about a lot of other pros a lot of other reasons to have a dog but as always on this show i like to be fair so let's look at some of the cons and you know what before considering getting a pet these are things that you should really think about how many times have people gotten pets and then realized that they got in over their heads they got in over their head and at that point it's too late because then what do you do you abandon the dog you give it up for adoption so it's better to think about these things beforehand and let's call a spade a spade las cosas como son dogs are time consuming they eat up your time you got to get up earlier to go take them for a walk uh they're also a financial responsibility it's costly dog food is not cheap going to the vet is not cheap right all of these things they have their price another thing too is allergies okay you might not be allergic to dogs or dander as we say dandruff especify but many people you know might be allergic so maybe people that are friends of yours can't come visit you at your house because they have a terrible allergic reaction hey it doesn't have to happen but it's something to take into consideration and one of the things i've noticed that changed when we got simone we adopted simone was making plans now your plans changed you couldn't just say okay we're going to go to vigo for the weekend all right and that little guy who's depending on you to feed him and to take care of him so in that case you need what we call a dog sitter plato si cuidas de bebes you're a babysitter if you take care of dogs you're a dog sitter if you take care of cats sos you're a cat sitter so you need not just a sitter but somebody you can trust and we're very lucky in my case because we have my mother-in-law and well simone my dog loves her more than he loves me which is understandable who doesn't love their grandma more than their parents grandparents rock so in general you know making plans traveling it it can be tough and and more and more now you can travel with your dogs but again then that's just more arrangements that you have to make with the hotel with the airlines so it it it makes things a bit more complicated let's be honest and last but not least they are messy animals i always call my my mother-in-law's pugs pigs porque somas como i know i know that they said that dogs really come from wolves but when you see a pug walking around and they're like on all those you're like really i don't i don't see a wolf there i see more of a pig you know so uh they're messy animals not all dogs are messy but even dogs that are house trained okay let's say your dog is house trained house trained as quesable okay but even then dogs like to you know look through the garbage and they like to you know sometimes tear up the sofa because they think the sofa is a toy so dogs can be messy they can make quite a mess and that's them being house trained if you're trying to house train a dog get ready to be cleaning up doggy doo doggy doo is una forbade so what do you think guys you're thinking about getting a dog now after hearing the pros and cons well in my opinion the pros outweigh the cons sobre pesandez in english but i will say this guys if you are going to get a dog or a cat or any pet please adopt there are many shelters that are full of beautiful animals just looking for a home and they've done some research into the industry of pet shops and you know these underground breeders and it's a dirty business so i always recommend giving a dog or an animal a second chance and you want to know something they are so appreciative i know simone looks at me like dude you saved my life and you know what i look at him and i say likewise lo mismo tedigo amigo just whatever you do whatever decision you make just make sure you are aware of the decision you're making but if you make the decision to adopt a dog i can guarantee it will be your bff your best friend forever como de timos why don't we go back now and take a look at a little history now as we said the dog is a descendant of the wolf the difference is that well one of the main differences obviously there are many many breeds as we said before the word breed is ratha but one of those is the up turning tail so wolves usually their tails go down and dogs well they can they have this thing where they can when they wag their tail stick it up now there are many other differences including the fangs los colmillos but it's obvious especially when you look at a husky or one of these dogs i mean that is a walking wolf isn't it and they say that the dog was the first species to be domesticated it was domesticated by hunter gatherers and a hunter-gatherer is somebody who hunts and gathers their food and this was over 15 000 years ago before the development of agriculture we had dogs and they were domesticated according to the research i've done here they say that the remains the remains on los restos of the barn ober castle dog is the first undisputed dog because it was buried in terrado next to humans and that was over 36 000 years ago so dogs have been a part of our lives much longer than we can even imagine because i don't know about you guys but i can't even fathom that distance in time fifteen thousand thirty five thousand years i can't even imagine one thousand years and the word fathom i used before is como comprender o captar i also wanted to take a look at the most common breeds of dogs and well the most common breeds are are you ready for this let's see if you guys can guess now this changes from year to year in fact this is already outdated because i got the these statistics from the year 2020 and according to the american kennel club okay the american kennel club is one of the biggest dog associations in the states if not the biggest they say that dogs are the most variable mammal on earth mamo siendo mamifero they say there are around 400 globally recognized dog breeds and the top five are in fifth place bulldogs no surprise there these are funny dogs and well they've been popular for a few decades now i would say number four golden retrievers oh what a beautiful animal what a gorgeous animal i can understand why people would want a golden retriever now again if you live in new york city in a small apartment don't get a golden retriever they need a lot of room do your research you know some dogs don't need a lot of room to run those are the perfect kind of dogs for a city but a golden retriever or the third one on our list the german shepherd when i see people in the city with these big dogs i feel really bad for these dogs second place we've got french bulldogs so technically bulldogs are on our list twice what a popular dog and number one again these are from 2020 and this list is constantly changing but in first place we've got labrador retrievers as the most popular dog and you know the interesting thing there are new breeds being recognized every year so who knows what they'll come up with next and before we get going over here i wanted to take a look at a couple fun facts and in the bonus part of the show we'll look at some more fun facts as well as personal stories with my dogs when i was growing up also we'll take a look at the most famous dogs ever both fictional and non-fictional that and so much more in the bonus part if you guys want access to the bonus part of the show or if you want pdfs with the vocabulary from every show every single week and you can even get classes with me weekly and monthly classes well it's all happening over on patreon and we've got a wonderful group of people learning and laughing together we'd love for you to join us and get in on the action it's happening at patreon.com alberto alonso check out our community of awesome individuals i want to send a shout out to all my patrons and a quick shout out to my super duper students mara javier frantisco roberto david jose maria mila alex patricio edgar and don't forget about my interstellar students paco diego carmen and diana keep up the great work guys and those of you who still haven't joined us what are you waiting for stop by patreon.com slash alberto alonso and learn so much more and have access to all kinds of special offers and i think the most important part is classes with me weekly classes and monthly classes check it out it's patreon.com alberto alonso we talked about dogs and their sense of smell before but did you know that their sense of smell is a whopping forty times better than that of a human forty times cuaden tabethas that is absolutely amazing so dogs can pick up more smells or more sense than we can possibly imagine and i guess this is why dogs are often used to sniff people or drugs or money or even lately they've been using sniffer dogs to use to detect medical conditions which i think is absolutely fascinating that these dogs can not only be therapeutic but they can also help us detect ailments in the future so they are superior beings i mean a lot of times we think about dog who's just a dog and the way we talk about dogs we think of them as just like these things but well they wouldn't use them for these important jobs if they weren't smart or good at something so dogs i know they get a bad rap sometimes and there are many expressions that we use referring to dogs and we'll take a look at those expressions as well in the bonus part of today's show now this next fact is mind-boggling mind-boggling did you know that a dog can be faster than a cheetah what well i said can be first of all listen to the wording it can be faster than a cheetah now we know most dogs can outrun a human right well what about the greyhound i'm sure you guys know the greyhound i think you call it galgo well this is the fastest breed of dog by far and these speedy dogs can reach a top speed of 72.4 kilometers within seconds of starting to run now you're thinking but wait a second alberto that doesn't beat a cheetah eso no ben una chita no well how's that work then because a cheetah can run almost 112 kilometers per hour so 72 versus 112 well obviously the cheetah's gonna win yeah but let's put all the factors in a cheetah can keep that speed for 30 seconds around 30 seconds greyhounds on the other hand can easily run at speeds in excess of 56 kilometers not their top speed but 56 kilometers for up to 11 kilometers so despite the cheetahs head start soon enough that greyhound is going to overtake that cheetah and going a little bit deeper into what we said before about their intelligence dogs are as smart as a whip as we say in english and studies have shown that dogs can learn over a hundred words and gestures now what does that mean translated into human that's a two-year-old and i've seen that my dog simone he understands the word paseo he understands the word walk i mean i guess it helps when i have his leash in my hand cuando tengo la correa but he associates it and he knows the sounds so they're really smart and that's why they're used as i said by authorities by the military and they've been used for farming i mean again we use them because they are amazing animals now just some point along the way we decided to not just use them but to love them and take care of them and bring them into our homes and i know many people who sleep with their dogs but we'll talk more about that in the bonus part what we're going to do is wrap right here with an expression and that expression is you can't teach an old dog new tricks you can't teach an old dog new tricks means that somebody who is old or set in their ways is not going to change and i beg to differ i say if you want to change you can learn new tricks okay maybe you won't learn the newest tricks sit stay roll over these are some of the tricks that dogs do and i know sometimes you'll feel like the underdog underdog el menos favorito but no matter how old we get i firmly believe that we can continue to evolve so i'm gonna change that expression to you can teach an old dog new tricks because really every dog has its day and will end with that expression every dog has its day means santo le llega sudia so keep working like a dog keep working like a dog on your english and having fun that said i hope you had fun in this episode and we'll see you in the bonus part of today's fyi[Music][Applause] you