A very good picture appeared in my FB feed today. It describes something I thought about a few years ago, and I still stand by that – we cannot own our dogs. It is not possible to own another beings, it just doesn't work. It doesn't matter if it's about dogs, cats, rats, cabinet, horses, elephants, walking sticks or something else.
The question of ownership is a human invention. We are the ones who insist on wanting to show others what cool gadgets we have, including our animals. Who has the most, biggest and coolest horses/dogs/whatever, as well as?
But we own not our men, our wives, our children, our friends, our employees, our parents, siblings and so on. We have relationships with them.
Of course it is here it gets a little complicated. After all, most of us pay a certain amount of money to have a relationship with an animal – vi buys dem, according to our own regulations. But there isn't a single dog or wolf that goes to another pack and asks to buy their prettiest bitch, or one of their puppies.
So when it applies to money and how our society is structured – Certainly, vi “owns” our dogs in such a way that we pay money to have a relationship with a dog. But beyond the financial/legal detail which is purely our own invention, so we don't own a smack when it comes to our animals.
We have one relationship with them in order to VI have chosen to have it. They had no choice at all. The only reason they want to be with us is because we chose them, and because they have learned that we are their security and world. If they had been allowed to choose entirely themselves from the beginning, their lives might have looked completely different – and who knows, they might have been much better off!?
Of this the reason, I have a little trouble with the word “dog owner” (or cat owners or whatever kind of animal you have). I prefer to say “the dog's human” or possibly “the dog's mat/house” about someone who has a dog, and about myself I say that “i have dog (and cat)” or “I share life with a dog and a cat”.
In my world you can't own anyone – and I say someone, because all animals are individuals, and “any”. In fact, I dislike the word “own” like that generally, and don't think you should be able to “own” anything at all. You can have relationships with both creatures and things, and one can definitely have an emotional attachment to stuff, but so.. own!?
It is also therefore I think you should take care of the relationship with your dog (or whatever animal you have). And realize that it is the relationship which is interesting, not so much what the dog cost, what you “can do” with the dog, what you actually do with the dog, and so on. If the dog was a human and we didn't add anything to its life, it would probably leave us (as partners sometimes do).
Like most things I write on this blog, It's perfectly fine if you think differently. I only have certain expressions (there are actually not that many) which I get annoyed with. It is not at all unreasonable to accuse me of being very picky. 😀
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