Friends aren't always human.

My dog is snoring.  He's 11  years old and a Maltese X Shihtzu who has been my best friend for  his entire life getting me through some very very tough times together. He was recently diagnosed with acute cancer that at his age was unlikely to get better.  He's not in any pain, very much the opposite,  still eats and gets his lead out to go for a walk - however I KNOW that the end is near for him  I can just sense it and I think the way he looks at me so does he.  My brother is equally devastated, as Lucky was also very much "his" dog.  I am curious to know what makes humans and animals so inseparable. Is it that we have "trained" them to be like us? or rely on them or just have a selfish need to keep them shut up with us?  I know that without Lucky my teenage years would have been even more unbearable - what he offered me was more and still is more than any human being can.  that and he's definitely not a cat dog, which doesn't seem to peturb the agile sleek climbing kitty any.  All I can really hope for is that when the end comes I am with him, or that he slips away whilst asleep dreaming of bones and chasing rabbits.