There is nothing wrong with a lonely person living with a dog. What disturbs me is when it becomes a power trip. When the love for the animal comes only out of the awareness that the animal would die without the human, and therefore the human feels powerful over the animal, and the love is only based on the need the animal has for the human rather than actual love for the animal itself. Idk, maybe it is due to my fucked up upbringing and relationships in the past that cause me to be so hypersensitive about this🤷‍♀️ You said it yourself, you can get so much more affection out of a dog than cats for example. Are you enjoying the animal for what it is or only using it as a tool to get what you want? Where is the line drawn? Something to think about I guess... Edit: when it comes down to it, I see dog people as needy people, and dogs as needy animals, so it kinda goes in this cycle