A Dog's Life

How would we fare in
realizing our potential equal
to our intelligence and future
social balance if we were taken
from our mothers after weaning
then sold to utter strangers
to do with us as they wished,
patterned at a vulnerably
malleable and emotionally
dependent stage in life to 
obey above all and to submit
to the reality that we are
owned, not in any measure
free of coercion, expected to
function at someone's whim?
Herder, companion, disability
guide, watchdog, or pampered
pet, subordinate and subservient
to those who may be temperate
and measured or maliciously
cruel, one thing is certain
above all, it's a dog's life.