EPISODE 192
LEVEL B1/B2

READING COMPREHENSION

Pet Business Ideas

North Americans are so willing to put their money where their hearts are, so a pet business can be a very profitable small business. Canadian households, for instance, spent $6.5-billion on them in 2012, a figure that’s been rising steadily annually, according to the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council of Canada – and 59% of Canadians say the bond they share with their pet is as strong as or stronger than the bonds they share with family and friends. The pet services segment, including grooming, boarding, pet hotels, pet sitting, day care and other services, has been the fastest-growing category; Americans spent $4.41 billion on pet services in 2013 and the APPA projects that they will spend $4.73 billion on pet services in 2014.
So how might you get into the pet business? This article presents ways that might appeal to you. The ideas below range from pet-based products through providing pet services that involve working with animals, but you won’t find any pet business ideas on the list that involve the retail breeding and selling of animals.

Pet Sitting
Pet sitting make the top of my list because a) there’s an almost universal need for it and b) it’s a very flexible business. For instance, if you live in a suitable place out of town, you can run a pet sitting business as a kennel operation with people bringing their pets to you and dropping them off. But that doesn’t have to be the case; you can also go to people’s homes and look after their pets’ needs. Or, you can combine a pet sitting business with a house sitting business and look after people’s homes as well when they’re away.

Dog Training/Obedience
If you can do this and do it well, you can probably write your own ticket. There are an awful lot of people out there who lack the time or skill or both to train a dog properly – but for some reason, have bought one anyway and now need someone to train it. The venue is not necessarily a problem; facilities to run dog training classes can be rented.

Dog Walking
Another dog-related service that busy pet owners need is to have their dogs walked regularly. The key to success with this pet business idea, I would think, would be time management. You’d definitely want to have enough clients so you could take x number of dogs out for a walk at a time, rather than just walking one and then returning it to its owner.

Dog Grooming
Dog grooming is a very popular pet business as grooming is one of those chores related to dog ownership that many people would rather pay someone else to do rather than do themselves. Another reason for its popularity is that, like pet sitting, it’s quite a flexible business idea. You could operate a dog grooming business as a mobile service or run it out of a retail shop, for instance.

Adapted from www.thebalance.com

 

Ex. 1 Find the words or expressions in the text which mean the following:

1) capable of earning money: __________
2) a number: __________
3) to predict sth: __________
4) to be part of sth: __________
5) a place where dogs are kept: __________
6) looking after sb’s house while they’re away: __________
7) doing what sb wants you to do: __________
8) a place: __________
9) sth built for a specific purpose: ___________
10) an unpleasant thing you have to do: __________
11) possible to be changed: __________
12) selling to individual clients: _________

 

Ex. 2 Match the expressions from the two columns into logical collocations:

 

1. to be willing                                                      service segment
2. to be rising                                                       need for sth
3. the pet                                                               sb off
4. retail                                                                  a business
5. a universal                                                        ticket
6. to drop                                                              breeding
7. to combine sth                                                 to do sth
8. to write your own                                           management
9. time                                                                   with sth
10. to operate                                                      steadily

 

 

Ex. 3 Provide English equivalents of these expressions:

1) gospodarstwo domowe
2) w skali roku
3) więź
4) pielęgnacja
5) zakwaterowanie
6) opieka nad zwierzętami
7) poza miastem
8) mnóstwo ludzi
9)  wynająć coś
10) zdecydowanie
11) usługa z dojazdem
12) na przykład

Grammar corner…

Today we’ll revise and expand on ways of hypothesizing generally. For this purpose we use
the second conditional. If I were you, I wouldn’t go there. But I’m not you and I never will
be, so it’s pure hypothesis. If it were up to me, I would decide against it. Were they to
offer you the job, would you accept it? (A nice way of getting rid of if …). If they happened
to offer you a raise, what would you buy yourself with the extra money? Suppose /
supposing you became a woman – how would your life be different?

 

Ex. 4 Write 7 sentences saying what you WOULD do if you WON 10 million dollars.

 

Each next sentence should start with the way the previous one ended. Use different structures from above.
1) If I won 10 million dollars, I …
2) If I were to …, I …
3) If I happened to …, I …
4) Suppose I …, …?
5) If I …, I …
6) Supposing …, I …
7) Imagine …, I …

 

GLOSSARY

profitable  – dochodowy
a figure –  liczba
to project sth –  prognozować coś
to involve sth  – uwzględniać coś
a kennel  – schronisko, hotel dla zwierząt
house sitting  – opieka nad domem
obedience  – posłuszeństwo
a venue – miejsce
a facility –  lokal
a chore – obowiązek
flexible –  elastyczny
retail  – handel detaliczny
to be willing to do sth  – wykazywać chęć zrobienia czegoś
to be rising steadily  – rosnąć w stałym tempie
the pet service segment –  sektor usług dla zwierząt
retail breeding –  hodowla na handel
a universal need for sth –  powszechne zapotrzebowanie na coś
to drop sb off  – odwieźć kogoś
to combine sth with sth –  połączyć coś z czymś
to write your own ticket  – dyktować warunki
time management  – zarządzenie czasem
to operate a business  – prowadzić działalność
a household  – gospodarstwo domowe
annually –  w skali roku
a bond  – więź
grooming  – pielęgnacja
boarding –  zakwaterowanie
pet sitting –  opieka nad zwierzętami
out of town  – poza miastem
an awful lot of people –  mnóstwo ludzi
to rent sth  -wynająć coś
definitely  – zdecydowanie
a mobile service  – usługa z dojazdem
for instance –  na przykład

download lesson (pdf)

>>Answers

 

ANSWER KEY:
Ex. 1
1) profitable
2) a figure
3) to project sth
4) to involve sth
5) a kennel
6) house sitting
7) obedience
8) a venue
9) a facility
10)a chore
11)flexible
12)retail

Ex. 2
1) to be willing to do sth
2) to be rising steadily
3) the pet service segment
4) retail breeding
5) a universal need for sth
6) to drop sb off
7) to combine sth with sth
8) to write your own ticket
9) time management
10)to operate a business
Centrum Języków Obcych Archibald poziom B1/B2

Ex. 3
1) a household
2) annually
3) a bond
4) grooming
5) boarding
6) pet sitting
7) out of town
8) an awful lot of people
9) to rent sth
10)definitely
11)a mobile service
12) for instance

Ex. 4
1. – 7. remember to use PAST form and WOULD

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