a dog is not a child

First published in The Drop Off (Upswell Publishing, 2025)


claiming a dog is a child
is not a small claim.

seeking consent orders
rows over weekly visitation rights
the presumption of daily walks.
at what age can a pet speak for itself? 

few judges allow the argument that a companion 
animal is more than a short-lived emotional asset.
quality time with three guinea pigs.
equal access to a dead goldfish.

reports say Britney Spears is single again citing 
irreconcilable difference, fights for fur babies 
weighing up the merits of a gifted Doberman 
the indeterminant age of an adopted Shepherd.

constant change
leads to defecation indoors following 
broken chains of command.

legal advice states canine equals property.
soft purchase of paws, these quivering jaws 
registration papers chewed up in contempt. 

bumper sticker on passing station wagon reads
Granddoggy On Board or My Child Has Four Paws.
a cheetah strapped in a stroller, wolves with our eyes.

barking is an ineffective avenue of expression.
watching ‘our’ dog and it is still a ‘dog’
head cocked to comprehend conditional love.

no one is sure what’s in a dog’s best interest.
sentient is not the same as infant
anthropologists find a finite line between 
breeders and the experience of birth. 

courts are an extension of the childhood home.
not all loving creatures can be amicable
social pack animals now thriving on their own

we walk daily in partnership 
with the wild unknown.






David Stavanger is a poet, producer, and former psychologist living on Wodi Wodi Dharawal land. He is the co-editor of Solid Air: Australian & New Zealand Spoken Word (UQP, 2019), Admissions: Voices within Mental Health (Upswell, 2022), and is the author of Case Notes (UWA Publishing, 2021), which won the 2021 Victorian Premier’s Prize for Poetry—his latest collection is The Drop Off (Upswell Publishing, 2025).