Life is quite simply too tough to live through alone. Pets, being man's best friend, are a comfort. But they are also a luxury in this day and age.
Many people amuse themselves with treating their pet as their own child. I mean, what's the difference? Parents put their children on leashes and little dogs are put in baby carriages. One of them does have more say than the other, and more demands, (and a very loud voice to back up what it needs). How do you define a child? Having a pet is better because they can't really say or do anything to get out of a situation they are in, (wait, isn't that a child?).
But this is about four legged creatures who can actually lick their own private parts. We sometimes like to dress up our furry friends as of they were our very own toddler. The pets don't complain, but they just sit there and let us squeal and exclaim excitably on their new appearance. We may think the animal has desires and feelings in the way we do, but really it's not like that at all. Our pets do like attention, but they are not thinking about being the center of attention and getting many complements and pets.The most likely thoughts going through the pet's head is, "where is that treat? I'm kinda hungry and need to pee. Oh, that's an interesting smell."
Pets do have a state of happiness and it's expressed at the highest level of when you arrive home. At the end of the day and you went through nothing but crap, you will get brightly lit eyes looking up at you, tails twitching or wagging, and what appears to be a big smile. Animals are expressive in a way where it's indirect, if you are sad, there's a shoulder to cry on or to pet. Human contact and communication is important in our daily lives, but it's quite the stress reliever when you don't have to comment about your day to someone (on a crappy day). You get no judgement. Instead you are greeted with a rub against your leg and a huge ball of fluff jumping on you, you forget your worries. The unconditional positive regard is solid gold.
What about the other end of the spectrum? Such as anger? Annoyance is expressed usually with a fair amount of warning before your hand looks like it came from a massacre. With a cat, usually their tail twitches a little, then to the point the tail is having a seizure, your hand is grabbed and goes through the cheese grater process. It's the opposite for dogs, their tail is not or barely twitching or wagging and shortly after there is the accommodation of flashing white teeth. These occurrences happen mostly when they don't want to be approached or when there is too much attention. The signs are all there, it's just a matter of reading them beforehand.
There are the moments of solitude and silence in our lives, we find ourselves alone and don't know what to do with ourselves, but there are the amusements that fill some of the emptiness. We treasure that happiest times with our pets and feel the comfort of having a home and security. Being approached by your own pet and having them sleep soundly beside you is like the state of happiness obtained in the Shire of Lord of the Rings.
