Question to the British people ?
The teacher of English told us that the British people qualify pets(Dogs and cats..) like human beings for example they "Where is my dog ? he is in the garden" not (it) but (he/she) , and the baby is the opposite for example they say "the baby must be sick, it couldn't sleep yesterday" .. it seemed to me really strange, I want to know if this thing true and the reason behind it ?

Question

Question to the British people ?
The teacher of English told us that the British people qualify pets(Dogs and cats..) like human beings for example they "Where is my dog ? he is in the garden" not (it) but (he/she) , and the baby is the opposite for example they say "the baby must be sick, it couldn't sleep yesterday"   .. it seemed to me  really strange, I want to know if this thing true and the  reason behind it ?

Answer

I'm not British, but I see Americans treating their animals in the same manner. I think it's mostly related to the fact that some people just can't use the word "it" when describing their beloved cats.

Answer

The first part is true. For pets, if we know their gender, we use he or she to describe them. The second part is nonsense though. We would always, without exception, use 'he' or 'she' if we know the gender of the baby. If the gender of the baby is not known it is likely that we would use the singular 'they' rather than 'it', which is a very impersonal word to use when referring to a human being.

Answer

I have never heard anyone calling their baby "it", thus disagree with this part. At the same time it's quite common to call dogs/cats/pets he/she, and I do not find anything strange here, as they actually are either female or male, and they are alive. Thus, I would consider this as modernisation of English language. In many other languages animals are either he/she.

Answer

The first part is usually true. The second part, 'it' is usually only used for an unborn child since you don't yet know the gender.