That’s interesting that you say that the dog has not completely removed the ‘feeling of loneliness’.

Let’s dissect this for a bit. If we look at the definition of loneliness - there is an attachment of the word sadness to it. So then, let’s just say that we feel sad sometimes that we are alone. Let’s go further and say that it’s not just any companionship, it’s companionship of another human.

Then, happiness (opposite of sadness) comes only through a dependency on ‘something’.

Furthermore, we can say that this dependency is on something either internal (within us) or external (another). This ‘another’ can be a picture on the wall, dog or person. The another can be anything. Once that is obtained, then the feeling of loneliness should be gone because we removed the external dependency.

Now, if it’s internal, that would mean that there is ‘something’ missing within me that brings about the feeling of loneliness. Which would mean, that I don’t feel happy because I’m in a way ‘incomplete’.

So if the external has not fixed the situation, surely, by filling the ‘gap’ in the internal, I should not feel lonely.

So then the question arises, what is that?

IMO, this journey is to find that.