My baby, my pretty girl, my good dog. Her name is Shelley and she's eleven years old. She has bad arthritis and something is wrong with her ears, making them swell up like balloons. She has to wear a cone as to prevenet herself from biting all of the fur on her back end off, and she poops everywhere. When we walk down the street, people glare at me - really glare. Because they think that I'm either beating her, or that I'm just causing her more pain than is necessary. The thing is, I don't know how much pain she's in. I'll never know, because she's so strong. She is, despite what others think, happy. When we take her to our cabin, she chases chipmunks and goes into the water and smiles and has a good time. Everyone is pressuring us to get her euthanized. I was starting to believe them, but now I'm not so sure. I'm very torn here. One, because I love her so much and I don't want to let her go. Two, because everyone wants us to and it's pissing me off. Three, because she still has life in her, and I don't know if she wants to die. Four, because I never know what would happen the next day if we hadn't euthanized her. She isn't just like a member of the family, she is a member of the family. She's my baby, and my sister. She's everything to me. It'd be the same thing as killing my actual sister to me. The same as killing my dad, or my mom, or my brother, or even my baby niece. If it's illegal for me to euthanize any of those people, then I think it should be illegal to euthanize pets. Or vice versa, making it legal to euthanize humans. You know, it's all very hard on me because I've had this dog my whole life, and I don'twant to let her go. In the old days, they'd just take her out to the barn and shoot her. That's like murder to me, but maybe that's only because Shelley and I are so close. My old German Shepherd still has life in her. Who am I to take it away? But I'm not old enough to make that decision. That's up to my parents and what they feel is right. I just don't know how I could stand by and let them, for lack of a better expression, kill her.
In my point of view, Euthanasia should either be legal for all forms of life, or illegal for all forms of life. There is no in-between.