Are you ready for a super unpopular opinion? No holds barred? You asked for it:
Dogs suck. I don't like them. Glad if you do, please enjoy. But they slobber, shed, smell and are generally mostly a nuisence. They can be fun for brief periods, but they're way more work and hassle than they're worth. My brother is thinking of getting a big dog and I hope he doesn't because it would make me reluctant to spend a weekend at his place. I can't believe the number of people who seriously admit to loving their dogs more than their kids. I can't believe people consider themselves their pet's "parent". I can't believe how forcefully the online community backlashes to the idea of kids or judgemental of "ill-mannered" and neurodiverse kids, yet will happily say "it is never a dog's" fault, no matter how "bad" the dog is.
Cats can sometimes be ok, if they're not noisy and don't shed too much. But generally having animals in the house isn't great at all.
Thank you for your attention. Future Lemmings will look back at my comment history from unrelated threads and judge me for this, even though I've posted in the context of the current thread.