6 Minute English / Our love of pets

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I m Neil.

And I m Georgie. It's said that your personality is reflected in your pet an animal that you keep in your home as a companion and treat kindly. Dog people are supposed to be friendly, enthusiastic and loyal, whereas cat people are introverted, proud and sensitive. Are you a dog person or a cat person , Neil?

I m definitely a dog person , Georgie. I want a pet that s friendly and loves me, not a lazy cat that sits around all day waiting for food.

Whether you're a dog person , a cat person , or have a goldfish, hamster or parrot for a pet, the British are well known as a nation of animal lovers. In the UK, 52% of owners describe their pet as their best friend , and in 2021, 18 million homes had at least one pet, meaning that for the first time there were more households with a pet than without.

In this programme, we'll be hearing how our relationship with pets has changed over the centuries, and, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well. But first I have a question for you, Georgie. Nowadays thanks to the internet, modern pets are getting online. So what percent of dogs and cats in the UK do you think have their own social media profile? Is it:a) 7%?b) 17%? orc) 70%?

It sounds crazy, but I ll guess 17 percent of British pets have their own social media account!

OK, Georgie, we'll find out the answer later in the programme. Cats using Instagram and dogs on TikTok may be a strange new development, but our relationship with pets has continually changed throughout history. In the 1800s, people started using the word pet to describe the emotional connection they felt to a special animal, and gradually it became normal to keep pets indoors.

Here, Jane Hamlett, professor of history and author of a new book, The Pet Revolution, explains to BBC Radio 4 programme, Thinking Allowed, how early British attitudes to pets were based on economics:

Prof Jane HamlettFirst of all, on a very practical level, living standards are gradually increasing across that period, and it becomes more possible to keep pets if you have more disposable income. But I think in British culture, in the 19th century in particular, home and family are increasingly celebrated, and keeping a pet becomes a way of bringing animals into your home life, and also really expressing what it means to be part of the family - animals become part of that.