'If Dogs Could Talk' – 5 Minute Freewrite

This is a response to today's freewrite challenge by @mariannewest. The prompt for today is 'talking dog.' I have to provide a content warning here: I am in a very sad mood after seeing pictures of the Yulin dog meat festival, and the festival is mentioned here (no gory details or images, though, I promise).

I am sitting down to begin this freewrite in a sombre mood. Pictures of the Yulin dog meat festival (which recently kicked off again – it is that awful time of year, sadly 😔) keep appearing on my Facebook newsfeed and it breaks my heart to see them. The subject of today's freewrite – 'talking dog' – makes me think: if the dogs could indeed talk to those who insist on torturing them, year after year, would those people listen? Would anything change?

I realise that many of those involved in the dog meat trade are poor, struggling to get by in life, and have few other prospects ... the entire situation breaks my heart. I hate the fact that this practice exists. I hate the fact that it is seen as a necessary – and even desirable – thing. I hate the pain that it brings to both the dogs and the humans involved (when I say humans, I am thinking of the psychological destruction that can be wreaked on those whose job it is to kill tons of animals, day in and day out, performing the job that few of those who eat the resulting flesh would be willing to do). I am a vegan, so my heart breaks not only for the dogs of Yulin and other events that take place in countries where dog meat rituals are practised ... but also for the trillions upon trillions of land and aquatic animals who are killed right here in the West (and indeed, across the globe) every year.

Just today, I was in a shop, rummaging around in my bag, and I couldn't find my purse. I set the bag down on top of a fridge for a moment, to methodically go through its contents until I found the purse. Whilst doing this, a movement just above the fridge caught my eye. I had not seen it before, but just above the fridge was a tank filled to the brim with live lobsters, all of them climbing on top of other, their claws tied together with tape, struggling to break free. The tank was securely locked so that none of them could break free, of course, but in their struggle, I saw their fear, their panic, their will to live ... just as I see the terror in the eyes of the dogs who are are piled into cages in Yulin every year – many dogs are packed into a single cage at one time – as they are led to their gruesome deaths. I then saw that right on top of the lobsters was another tank which had been filled with live crabs.

I thought I was going to have a panic attack there and then, just watching those lobsters. I felt as though I were about to burst in tears, but I knew there was absolutely nothing I could do. If I had had the money, I would have bought every single one of them and set them free ... but I didn't have enough money for even one. What makes it worse was that I read an article this morning on how the seas could soon be devoid of life, thanks to our extensive fishing habits...

My dog Buddy is one of the lights of my life. He brings me joy each and every time I see him. He has such a trusting, beautiful face – always eager to play, to welcome me, to show his love. If he were in one of those cages in Yulin – begging for mercy, pleading to be set free – who would listen? Who would care?

I am truly sorry for writing such a downer post – I would rather write about absolutely anything but this – but the purpose of the freewrite is to write down, without censorship, absolutely everything that passes through your mind in five minutes. So ... there it is. That is how I feel today. These are the thoughts that 'talking dog' has prompted within me.

I'm sorry. And to the dogs: I want to tell you how sorry I am too. I'm sorry that you are being so gravely mistreated at our hands. I'm sorry that humankind is so depraved. 💔

Image Source: PetBucket