@hawkeye10,
Interesting and your position it is just an animal is not at all an uncomon a position to take in this society.
For myself a pet is a family member that I have obilagations to and that cover taking some risks for their benefits IE they are not just animals at least in the sense you had stated they are not.
Both ways of looking at pet/human relatiosnhips are fine even if I sometime wonder why they are just animals people would bother to have pets in the first place.
