It seems so natural to call myself a dog ‘owner’…it is what we all do and it is clear to all that my dog is mine and I am responsible for her.
But…in recent years my thinking has changed.
I do not want ‘own’ another sentient living being, she is not an item of shopping or personal property for me to buy, sell or treat as I wish.
My job is to provide fun, safety and purpose in the human world she lives in with me.
I have been challenged by some friends on playing semantics and told that it does not matter how I describe our relationship.
It’s more than semantics
How I describe something drives how I feel about it, how I treat it and interact with it.
That is how I personally feel.
If I described my wife (sorry Rach) as my servant (and if you know us you will see the humour in this) as opposed to my partner no doubt our interactions would be very different (and scary for me). I would be encouraged to interact with her in the way I described our relationship, as would others.
For me if I describe my dog as being ‘owned’ by me the relationship is defined as very one-way and transactional…nothing like the two-way relationship I have with her.
I describe myself as her ‘guardian’, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy of my obligations and responsibilities to look and love her in my human world.
‘Owner’ or ‘guardian’ is not simple semantics, it is a description of our relationship and every time I use the term dog guardian I am more inclined to be that.
I feel that words do make a difference in this instance.
Anyway, that’s how I see it 🙂
Ian
