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Grandpa's Dog

Marion talks about a special dog.
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Eli
Marion

One of our dogs at home, he used to go walking with my granddad, and it was on these old country roads. So very quite really, not many cars would pass so the dog, Jonathan, used to run off in front of my granddad and my granddad's hearing wasn't too good at that time. He was already quite old, so he wouldn't always hear cars coming, so every time a car was coming, the dog would, Jonathan would come running back to my granddad so that, and he did this every time a car came so my granddad knew that if Jonathan came running back towards him, he knew that he had to stand in closer to the edge of the road so that, you know, he wouldn't be in danger of being knocked down by a car or anything because those old country roads, you know when I was younger, we used to walk in the middle of the road, or you know, not quite by the edge, cause there were so few cars, you didn't really need to keep by the edge and there were no foot paths along the side, so you were just walking along the edge of the road, so he was a really clever dog in he could alert my granddad, you know to whether a car was coming or not.

I think most dogs are very intelligent. I've met some people who say their dog is a bit stupid but I don't believe that really. I think most dogs are quite intelligent, even if they're not really good guard dogs, you know, some dogs aren't good guard dogs. They don't bark enough when strangers come or something like that, but I still think they're probably very intelligent, and even if they're not, they're probably very affectionate, which is a plus definitely. It's almost as good as having a really intelligent guard dog I think.


Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

run off in front

Jonathan used to run off in front of my granddad.

When you 'run off in front' of someone you go ahead of him.

Notice the following:

  1. Go and run off in front of the group and see if the cafe is still open.
  2. Never run off in front of Mummy because you might get lost!

in danger

He wouldn't be in danger of being knocked down by a car.

When you are 'in danger' you are at risk of getting hurt or of something bad happening to you.

Notice the following:

  1. The dentist said that I am in danger of losing this tooth.
  2. If you stand there you are in danger of getting hit by a car.

footpath

There were no footpaths.

A 'footpath' is an informal, man-made trail that helps you to walk in the correct direction to a designated route.

Notice the following:

  1. There was a winding footpath to the front door.
  2. Please stay on the footpath, as I don't want you to step on the flowers.

intelligent

I think most dogs are very intelligent.

When someone is 'intelligent' it means that he is more clever than the average person. He can understand things very quickly.

Notice the following:

  1. You need to be very intelligent to go to that school.
  2. If you were more intelligent you would have realized that the computer was not even switched on!

affectionate

They're probably very affectionate.

When somebody is 'affectionate' it means that they act lovingly towards someone else.

Notice the following:

  1. My cat is very affectionate. He always wants cuddles.
  2. My boyfriend is not very affectionate in public.

Vocabulary Quiz

run off • danger • footpaths
intelligent • affectionate
  1. His whole family has always been very towards me.
  2. This park is safe. It's fine for the children to in front of us.
  3. He is one of the most people I have ever met. He reads all the time.
  4. With all the changes in the economy many people are in of losing their jobs.
  5. There are some great for running down by the river.
Answer the following questions about the interview.

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