Yeah, I'm His Owner

The term we commonly use to say our pet belong to us : OWNER. 


I personally find this term derogatory and disrespectful to the pet's morale and right as a free living creature. 


Business dictionary dictates the term OWNER as such : A party that possesses the exclusive right to hold, use, benefit-from, enjoy, convey, transfer, and otherwise dispose of an asset or property.


The words that got me steaming to my ears are DISPOSE and PROPERTY. 

Can we get anymore disrespectful and uppity when we call ourselves the OWNER of our pets? We feed the, shower them with endless love, pick up after them, treat them when they're sick and introduce them as family members to everyone.

Lemme ask you, do you own your siblings? Do you own your parents? Do you? 


So why use the term OWNER? As much as we decide to take care of an animal as a part of our life: the little ray of sunshine that makes our bleak world a little more bearable: we do not control their lives. As much as we are free to be ourselves, they do too. What do you do when a friend treats you like shit? You move away from that friend. So, what does a dog do when his human mistreats him? He runs away, deciding life in the streets is better than being unhappy with a human that doesn't appreciate them.

That's besides the point.


I want to propose that we started referring to ourselves as GUARDIANS to our pets.


arcdictionary.com defines the word Guardian as such : One who guards, preserves, or secures; one to whom any person or thing is committed for protection, security, or preservation from injury.


Do you :


a) Guard your dogs in times of emergency, floods, financial crisis(always making sure there are coins laying about in the house so you can at least get them a sardine etc? CHECK.

b) Protect them when some fucking kids throw stones/harass them? CHECK.


c) Offer security, like install microchip etc to make sure they always find a way back home? CHECK.


d) Prevent injuries so you don't blame yourself how could have let that happen under your very nose? 
CHECK.

So, having done such vigilante care for your loved critters, how can we call ourselves owner? Inanimate man-made objects are owned, the ones with the heartbeat? Nope. 


So I hereby firmly propose that we start using the term GUARDIAN whenever we introduce our pets to someone.


"Hey, you own that dog?"


"No, sir. I am merely her guardian". 


Try. Our four-legged friends deserve this respect after bringing so much of joy to us.