Prehistoric humans loved their pets.

[Catherine]

We can conclude that prehistoric humans loved their pets from burial sites. Animals were buried with people or they were buried with objects. These burials were thousands of years ago, sometimes more than 7 thousand years ago. In some cases much more  than that.

https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/...nd-animals

https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/he...proof.aspx

Clearly animals and especially dogs were very much a part of human lives even more than 20 thousand years ago. 
The more they study ancient humans and how they lived, the more we find that dogs and other domestic animals were an important part of those lives. 

Our pets are not just our best friends. It seems they are also our oldest friends.