Mark: This podcast is brought to you by LingQ, simply the best way to learn languages. After you listen to the podcast, sign up for a free account at LingQ (l-i-n-g-q.com) and study the full transcript using LingQ's revolutionary learning tools. Hello everyone, welcome to the EnglishLingQ Podcast once again. It's Mark here today; I'm joined by Kindrey. Kindrey: Hello.
Mark: We thought today we would talk a little bit about dogs, because I know many of our members have dogs. I know for certain of some of our members in Japan who are really a little bit nuts about their dogs. So, anyway, we got a dog about a year ago. Well maybe you can start by telling everyone a little bit about our dog.
Kindrey: Well, our dog is about a year old; a little over a year old. We got him a year ago, so he's a year and a couple months and he is a big dog. That's the first thing you have to kind of decide when you're trying to decide what kind of dog to get. I guess you have to decide what suits your lifestyle. I think you and I both decided that we weren't really small dog people. We needed a big dog to run around. We live in this great city with lots of parks and trails and walking areas and we have a good size backyard, so we got a big dog.
He's a bit of a mutt. He's a mix, he's half Lab and he's a quarter Golden Retriever and a quarter Flat-Coat Retriever, but everybody who sees him thinks he looks like a big black Golden Retriever. He's very easygoing and just lots of fun. Mark: He's basically a big black… Kindrey: …bear… Mark: …shaggy bear, yeah. He weights about 75 pounds.
Kindrey: No, he's got to be like 80-85 now. Mark: 80-85 pounds and he's a good size. We know that he's really a kitten at heart, but… Kindrey: He's a big chicken. Mark: People we come across who are not dog people are a little nervous.
Kindrey: A little intimidated by his size.
Mark: Just because he's a good-sized dog. I mean he's not huge, he's no Doberman. Not Doberman, but Great Dane.
Kindrey: No.
Mark: But he's a… Kindrey: He's like a big Golden Retriever. Mark: Yeah, he actually looks like a black Golden Retriever. That's what he looks like. Kindrey: Exactly.
Mark: Although, he's half Labrador Retriever, Black Lab. Kindrey: But he's got the long hair. Mark: Yeah.
Kindrey: But it's just interesting all the different dogs out there. We went and got a mutt from a family, but we know lots of people who are getting designer dogs. Very expensive dogs some of the mixes they're doing now and they're great dogs too. It's amazing the different dogs that are coming around. Friends of ours just got a Schnoodle, so he's a cross between a Schnauzer and a Poodle. He's a funny little guy; he's a nice dog. Mark: Which dog is that?
Kindrey: (????? 3:35) Mark: Oh, he's a Schnoodle? Kindrey: He's a Schnoodle. Mark: Okay. I must say, I don't pay a lot of attention to the designer dog thing, but I guess you come across a lot of them when you're with Gordie at the dog park. What we didn't realize before getting the dog is that there's a whole other world of… Kindrey: … dog owners out there. Mark: Once you have a dog all… Kindrey: You see the world a little differently when you have a dog in the neighborhood. Mark: Well yeah, you go to the dog park and everybody has to stop and talk to you about your dog and you find out about their dog. People get to know each other essentially through their dogs. What's interesting is that if you walk through that dog park without a dog nobody is going to talk to you. Like yeah, they'll say hi or whatever, but they're not going to stop and chat. Kindrey: It's a very social thing with a dog in the dog park. I've met many new friends over the last year. Mark: It's amazing. I must say, I don't go that often to the dog park like you do. You take the kids to school and then you'll go to the dog park and that's sort of like the social hour at the dog park. Kindrey: A lot of my friends go with their dogs.
Mark: Yeah, but not just your friends, but just other people who have dogs and you sit there.
Kindrey: Oh yeah.
Mark: While the dogs are playing you chit-chat, obviously, but what's interesting is every once in a while when I do go to the dog park people seem to know me even though I've never met them. They certainly know my dog.
Kindrey: You're Gordie's dad. Mark: They know my kids and they know you and it's just kind of funny. Like wow! How do you know all this about me? I don't know you, but it's just the doggy world. And, I guess, as you sit there and the dogs are playing you're chatting and yeah, learning about each other. Anyway, it's just a neat thing. Kindrey: It's a very friendly world out there with a dog; more friendly than without, I think. Mark: Absolutely.
Kindrey: It was just funny to watch them all play and some get along and some don't. Some dogs like puppies and some dogs don't like puppies. Some Poodles are…I don't know. Gordie is our dog. I think he's scared of big Poodles; he doesn't like them. A lot of the Labradoodles he's not crazy about. He's gotten a little better; he was quite a chicken when he was younger. Mark: Not much… Kindrey: He's getting a little braver. Mark: …which is good.
Kindrey: Not much. He makes a lot of noise. He does a lot of growling in the house. Outside he just growls and comes running for the back door. He likes to be inside.
Mark: Yeah, that's good though, because you don't want a dog that's aggressive and always trying to fight other dogs and run away and whatever. Basically, he stays close and comes when we call him.
Kindrey: He's stays close. He's just a big friendly guy. Mark: Happy. Yeah, he's a great family dog. Kindrey: He loves the kids.
Mark: Yeah and what I like he's happy; go for a run. You know like I'll take him for a run a couple times a week or in the winter I take him snowshoeing. It's fun to have someone to go do those things with and he's always keen. Kindrey: He's keen to go any time; he's always keen to go. The other amazing thing about dogs is they actually get you out more. I mean every day this past winter I'm out there in the rain walking the dog; whereas before I would have never done it. Mark: No, that's true. Kindrey: It gets us both out.
Mark: No, what's great about him I was just going to say is that his Labrador side is very evident in that he loves to swim. Any body of water he's just in there, it doesn't matter how cold, which I like to see anyway. Kindrey: Me too. He's always wet this dog. He's wet most of the day. Mark: From a young age, I guess at an age when puppies wanted no part of the water, he was just in there loving it.
Kindrey: He'd charge in. Mark: Maybe that's because he's black and furry and especially now when the weather is warming up a little bit I think the only way he cools off is if he's in the water. Kindrey: He's got his fur coat on; he needs to cool off, aye? Mark: The minute he sees any water he makes a beeline for it and you can just see him awh, cooling himself off in the water. Yeah, so that's… I mean, essentially, when we first (????? 8:46) because you never had a dog as a kid and you'd had cats. I was keen to get a dog, but kind of left it up to you and finally you… Kindrey: …knew what was involved. Well I knew that I would get stuck with the brunt of the care giving for the dog, because I'm around the most. You know the kids say they're going to do all this stuff, but they go to school. Mark: No.
Kindrey: They're just little kids; they can't take care of the dog. So, yeah, you end up having another child when you get a dog.
Mark: Well, I mean I think it depends how much time you have to deal with the dog.
Kindrey: He's like our youngest child now. Mark: They'll take up probably as much as you have to give them, but he's pretty lucky. He gets treated pretty well, but everybody likes having him.
Kindrey: Yes, he follows me around all day.
Mark: I guess you're pretty happy now. We can't see not having a dog. Kindrey: Yeah, he's part of the family. Mark: Yeah and I'm sure a lot of you listeners out have dogs, so please write in and let us know any feedback you have about dogs, about anything, what you'd like us to talk about. With that, probably, we'll sign off, so talk to you next time. Bye-bye.
