The emotional attraction to pets is very much a cultural thing. Cubans, for example, are just as likely to have and love pets as anyone else, but there is no word in the Spanish language for "pet". The closest to it is "tame animal" or "domesticated animal" (animal manso o animal domesticado). Throughout most of European history, cats were loathed and despised (mostly for superstitious or religious reasons). Their domestication probably began accidentally, when wild felines started hanging around Egyptian granaries because of the endlless supply of rodents. For the record, I'm a cat person, myself. I find them much more dignified and graceful than dogs, which I consider fawning sycophants with no self-respect. And everyone knows that even though cats prefer to avoid conflict, when cornered, they can trash any dog twice their weight in a stand-up fight.

The original value of dogs, besides as a reservoir for storing unconsumed food for future hard times, was as sentry and shock troops for the earliest human communities. There is no way early humans could have protected themselves against large solitary predators or pack hunters such as wolves and hyenas using just primitive stone weapons. We're not that good at running or fighting, and our sensory equipment is inadequate, particularly after dark. Dogs provided early warning and a defense-to-the-death mentality which would have made it risky for any predator to engage paleolithic man. Most predators are too smart to risk injury in a fight for their food, they prefer to just sneak up on it or ambush it. A single human, even one armed with a club or pointed stick, however, is no match for any major predator.

I wonder if any archaeological work has ever been done on primate-canine cooperation in the earliest hominid communities. My guess is it probably antedates the use of fire and stone tools.