This linguistic quibble had enough fire in it to light up a lively debate, if the teacher had chosen to harness it. Taking them one at a time, he asked whether they applied to the various items in the original list. This attempt to apply the scientific terms to actual examples was admirable in theory, but unsuccessful in practice because the words themselves were unrecognizable. Growth' was probably the only word which was received as intended. Reproduction, Excretion and Respiration were given common-speech connotations that clearly could not apply to plants.
Irritability means, of course, a bad temper, as associated with humans, dogs and probably bulls.
The pupils were, we must remember, only ten years old, of typical mixed attainment, and unaccustomed to technical biology. He demonstrated this, making the dog jump when he shouted 'jump', etc. The teaching point was that the toy dog exhibited some , but only some, of the seven 'Characteristics of Life'. Therefore it only seemed to be alive. But it also had batteries, which could count as Nutrition.