BEING VEGAN – If I Were a Dog

Wikimedia Commons

By Paul Graham
Source: Las Vegas Informer

If I were a dog, there is a chance that I could be treated very, very well. I would live in a home where I was recognized as a member of the family and given love and attention every day of my life. I would be a vital part of their lives and they would be a vital part of mine. Every day I would be showered with affection and I would love in kind. There would be long walks and trips in the car and many adventures together. I would have the best of care and be an important of that home life. I would be a companion for my human(s) and they would be a companion for me. Life would be as it could and should be.

If I were a dog, I could also be left alone. Abandoned and unwanted. I could have gotten out of where I thought I belong only to roam and not be able to find my way home. I could be picked up and taken to a place where they would put me in a cage. Sometimes the humans might decide that they don’t want to or can’t take care of me anymore and bring me to that same place themselves and leave me. Either way I will sit in the cage waiting for someone I know to come and find me and bring me back home. But most of the times they do not come. Sometimes people that I don’t know come by and look at me and I wonder if they would want to take me home. They look nice. If I am lucky they will choose me…I see other dogs going with people. But then sometimes we just sit alone waiting. I wish someone would have brushed me or given me a bath. I know I can look better than this. I hope that they see something in my eyes when they look at me. If I stay here too long they will lead me to a room that don’t want to go to. It just doesn’t feel right. They will give me a shot and I will go to sleep. I just won’t ever wake up.

If I were a dog, I could be born in a place that people will call a puppy mill. Our mothers give birth to us often in cages stacked up together and it smells really bad and there are lots of bugs around. It is sometimes really hot and other times it is really cold. Our mother seems so tired and doesn’t have much energy but she loves us the best that she can. They will have her do this over and over again till she is all worn out and then they can’t use her any more and will just put her to sleep…and she will never get up. I don’t stay with my mother very long or my other brothers and sisters. Some of us do not feel very well but they separate us and send us to someplace where we will be placed in cages next to other dogs and people will come by and look at us and point at us. Sometimes they will ask someone to open our cages so that can pet us and hold us. That is nice. If they like us we go home with those people even if we aren’t feeling very well. If we are too sick we might not live very long. We might have too many problems and maybe they won’t want to take care of us any more.

If I were a dog, I might be bought or bred for people who will make us fight other dogs. They starve us, beat us and treat us very badly. We don’t want to hurt any other animal or human but we are so frustrated and angry and confused. We often don’t know any other way. They put us with other dogs that will hurt us if we don’t hurt them first. Everything is happening so fast and the humans are yelling and making lots of noise around us and there is teeth and snarling and pain and blood and sometimes that is our end. If we live through it we are not treated or cared for even though we are hurting and we only live until the next time we are forced to fight. If we don’t fight we will be beaten or killed so we fight to survive. Sometimes they bring dogs to us who don’t know how to fight so that we can practice on them. It doesn’t feel right but if we don’t kill them we will suffer the consequences. This is the only life that we might ever know.

If I were a dog, I could be taken as a puppy to a school or company that would keep me in a cage in a laboratory. People in long coats would come in each morning and look at us and do things to us. We are never sure why. Sometimes they make us breathe smoke that makes us cough and choke. They make us drink liquids that also make us feel funny or sick. They spray things in our eyes that burn so badly…there are times that after they do it we can’t see anymore. Sometimes there are windows and sometimes there are not. We might never see sunlight. We might never leave our cage and see the outside and put our paws upon the grass or the dirt. Some of us will be opened up and they will look inside our brains or other parts of our body. If we live we will get to stay in our cage for the rest of our lives. If we don’t live they might just throw us in a big garbage can with other dogs and animals that didn’t make it either.

If I were a dog, I might be born in a country where they would look at me as something to eat rather than something to pet and love. I could be rounded up with other dogs and crammed so tightly that we can hardly breathe in a big metal basket and then weighed and sold to someone who will take us to a place that no dog or any other animal should ever have to go to. They want to kill us so they can eat us. We can still be alive and our throats cut or they will put us in boiling hot water to burn our skin off. What kind of miserable end to a miserable life would this be? I would wish I had never been born. I am dead and now they will take our skinned bodies and hang it up in the marketplace so that people will buy our dead carcasses and take us to their homes or restaurants and cook us and eat us. Why would anyone ever want to do that?

If I were a dog, I could be recognized as the special and loving animal that I am. I could have people find me in the shelter and clean me up and take care of me until my owners find me or I find a forever home. There would be people that would work on my behalf and be tireless to see that things like puppy mills and dog fighting would no longer exist. I could be in a cage in a lab and be rescued by people who would set me free forever and let me feel the warmth of the sun for the first time and play upon the grass and find me a home where people will love me and take care of me and not let anyone experiment on me ever again. People would help me by making sure that I couldn’t make puppies or bring puppies into the world because there just isn’t enough nice people in the world to take care of all of us. People could learn and grow to understand that there are plenty of other things to eat so that they don’t have to eat dogs any more. If I were a dog, I would be born into this world as a special gift with a heart full of unconditional love to share for whoever wants it…this is all that I could ever want and hope for.

Paul Graham

Paul Graham was born and raised in Northern California and has lived in Las Vegas since 2004.  He is a top wedding officiate, a green Realtor and writer.  He has a daily vegan food blog http://www.eatingveganinvegas.tumblr.com which is 365 days and 365 vegan meals in Las Vegas.  He can also be reached at eatingveganlv@gmail.com or http://www.facebook.com/EatingVeganinVegas.

Paul’s e-book, “Eating Vegan in Vegas:  If It Can Happen Here, It Can Happen Anywhere” is now available at www.sullivanstpress.com.


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if dogs ruled the world,
cruel would be long gone.
no living being would
ever be sh*t upon.
there would be no
homeless, no hunger,
no pain.
our world would be a heaven
if dogs could reign♥

Karen Lyons Kalmenson