Our perception has been changed from the era called ‘pets’ to the era called ‘companion animals’. These days, the community between people who have companion animals is very active and SNS accounts that focus not on people but on pictures or daily lives with companion animals are also increasing and getting popular. In this era, there are expressions people who are with companion animals usually use to refer their companion animals. It is ‘my baby’. Even though it is an animal of different species they never give birth, there is phrase ‘give birth to baby in our heart’ in Korean. I think that the title <Give birth to a dog> of this webtoon may be an extension of this idea. 

Part of prologue of webtoon <Give birth to a dog>

<Give birth to a dog>, which is officially registered in NAVER Challenge Cartoon, begins when a main character Dana, who had lethargy days, gets her dog Myeongdong. At the moment when puppy Myeongdong puts his face out of the box, the black-and-white cartoon turns into various colors. This scene is not only a great direction as an introduction of webtoon but also a direction that represents the point of this webtoon. 

In episode 1, parents of Nara and Dana allowed Dana to adopt the dog in hope that Dana’s depression would be better. But Nara is still worrying if Dana is able to take responsibility for the puppy. In reality, Nara’s worry would be more reasonable and logical than their parents’ permission. It takes a lot of time and effort to take care of puppy and these things are not easy for those who are suffering from depression. 

Author didn’t overlook this point. <Give birth to a dog> constantly points out things for companion animals such as necessary preparation, study, effort, financial investment, etc. In this webtoon, the sister had argue over bowel training of Myeongdong and made up with it again, and head of animal hospital even flatly says to owners who abandoned their companion animals because of surgery expenses that ‘you shouldn’t have a dog’. Especially the episode 4 which Dana, who studied more about companion animals, finds ways sisters can do together rather than teaching unilaterally to Nara, presents a desirable family appearance with companion animals in many aspects. 

Part of episode 4 of webtoon <Give birth to a dog>

What’s special about <Give birth to a dog> is that it hasn’t lost its storytelling while containing so much information. It is not a daily webtoon that talks about the cuteness of companion animals or delivers pleasant stories. It is not a webtoon that only delivers the information with characters. In the <Give birth to a dog>, there are information author wants to deliver as well as narrations characters of Dana, Nara and Myeongdo make together. <Give birth to a dog> is very excellent in that it shows good balance between the amount of information and narration. 

Title logo of webtoon <Give birth to a dog>

<Give birth to a dog> presents various perspectives on the way of being together with companion animals. But it never tries to teach readers unilaterally or talks about superficial knowledge theoretically. And it even doesn’t miss the narrative impression as a webtoon by describing changing Dana and Nara through Myeongdo and Myeongdong becoming happy through Dana and Nara. I think it is a webtoon those who love puppy or who are interested in companion animals should read once.