This week I held a protest for animal rights, and while you think everyone could get on board with that cause, I heard a lot of negativity. The thing that bothered me the most was when someone told me that a “stupid dog” is “replaceable” and if it died we could “just get another one” and I’m here to tell you how wrong that is.
The day I turned 19 I got Caesar. I was just two months out of graduation. At 17, I decided to move out of my house. At 18, I wanted to die. Constantly. All I thought about was killing myself. I’ve never been secret about this.
Two months after I graduated I desperately wanted anything that could save me. That “anything” came in the form of an 8-week-old German Shepherd Mix named Caesar.
When he came into my life on August 11, 2011, my entire world changed – I knew I had a living creature that depended on me to live. My constant thought was, “If I died, what would happen to him” and that thought kept me alive.
Caesar saved my life.
To have someone tell me “a dog is replaceable and you can just get a new one” is incredibly insensitive, insulting, and ignorant. Since 2011, Caesar has been through my lowest lows and my highest highs. There will never be another dog in the world that will understand the destress I experienced in my late teens and early 20s. While I still battle depression and anxiety, I have grown in so many ways. There will NEVER be another being who ever has experienced what Caesar experienced with me (and I really hope there won’t ever be).
Caesar changed my thinking. He gave me purpose. As I grew into a “new” person over the past nine years, Caesar has grown and changed with me. We enjoy hikes together and love playing in rivers.
Only a year after getting Caesar, I brought Jeter home – and here’s how I know dogs are not replaceable: if dogs were “replaceable” then Caesar and Jeter would be exactly the same, but they aren’t. Each of them has their own unique personality and I will mourn their death’s differently, because each taught me something different and came into my life at different times. Each experienced different things with me.
My dogs are now eight and nine. In his nine years of life, Caesar has moved five times with me, Jeter three times, and they have been through my most major life-moments. Both survived nearly my entire 20’s with me. Caesar was there the day I got engaged and both dogs were there the day that relationship ended. Caesar and Jeter were there the day my parents got divorced and I cried into their fur. They were there when I met Dakota and have been there for the past six and a half years we’ve grown together.
To say either of my dogs are “replaceable” is entirely wrong. Not only have they both been through parts of my life that will never be replicated, but they are so unique in their own ways. Caesar and Jeter’s DNA can never be replicated again. They are both unique dogs with varying degrees of different breeds in them. Caesar’s personality is loyal and energetic, while Jeter is sleepy and lovable.
I think people who believe that dogs are as “replaceable” as a destroyed television should not be allowed to have pets. Until your dog saves your life or you really have bonded with them, you have no idea what you are talking about.