Nipper in the RCA Victor logo tilted his head at the sound coming from the Victrola, adopted from a painting with the title, “His Master’s Voice.” The little dog was drawn to the sound because it was …
We have talked of dogs’ masters and pet owners, but can a person truly own a dog, any more than they they can own a man or a woman? There’s something eerily wrong about the statement, “You’re mine,” just as there’s something wonderfully right about the statement, “I am yours.”
A living creature cannot be possessed; the sharing and the caring should be voluntary and mutual.
I put my heart in the care of a gentle golden retriever, and she put her trust and care in me. She was “mine” only in the sense that we had assumed responsibility for her well-being. I don’t think I ever thought of her as a thing I possessed. You don’t own another soul, certainly not a soul as big as hers.