Speaker A. I come from a family where having pets has always been natural. We live on a farm, so of course we have cats and dogs; from time to time we rescue baby-⁠birds that fall out of their nests and some of them never want to leave. All the children in our family learn to ride on ponies before they transfer to horses. I guess those ponies and horses could also be called pets. I’m not even talking about all the frogs and bugs and worms that kids adopt to be their pets. Our home is practically a zoo!

Speaker B. I’ve always wanted to have a pet. Preferably a dog, although a cat, a turtle or a bunny would also do. I wouldn’t mind a bird either. But everyone in my family is allergic to animals! This is so sad. The closest to a pet I’ve ever had were sea-⁠monkeys. I bet you’ve never even heard of them. They are tiny sea animals, a kind of shrimp that you can hardly see, that were created by scientists for some space project. When I grow up and live on my own, nobody will stop me from having pets!

Speaker C. I’m convinced that having pets is a must when you have children. I cannot even imagine myself in my childhood without a dog for a friend. I can also see how good it is for my children. Having pets teaches them love and friendship and responsibility. No matter how tired you are, you have to wake up early and walk your dog. You have to give them food and water, even if you are not hungry yourself. It’s the best school of life skills one could ever imagine!

Speaker D. Having pets is great, I guess, there’s always someone to talk to, someone to hug. But it is so inconvenient! You always need to keep in mind their needs  — special food to buy, be home in time to walk your dog, wake up early in the morning. Taking them to the vet. But the worst thing is vacation time! What do you do with your pet when you travel? It’s hard to find friends that would temporarily adopt your pet. And putting a pet in a special pet hotel is too stressful for the animal.

Speaker E. Ok, call me lame, call me antisocial, call me a freak if you like. But I don’t have any human friends. The only friend that I have is my dog Toby. I don’t know why I’m not popular at school. May be because I’m so big and fat? May be because I don’t like team games? May be because I like classical music? I’ve never been able to make any friends except for Toby. Toby never lets me down. He doesn’t care what I look like, and he enjoys the same things as I do. He’s always around for me. So there!

Speaker F. I think before you get a pet you have to think how happy you can make the animal. I truly believe that for some animals being a pet is not much better than living in a prison. I don’t understand why people would buy a huge dog if they live in a tiny apartment in a big city. Especially if they work from morning till night. The poor animals are bored the whole day and don’t get enough exercise! Shouldn’t life quality matter to them as well?