[tacocataco]

A Dog's heightened senses are an asset when detecting intruders. I'm sure thats probably the biggest reason humanity domesticated them in the first place.

If a dog keeps depression at bay, someone could possibly avoid having their brain chemistry permanently altered by owning a dog.

There are even working breeds with many different purposes. It's not all black lab and American Eskimo.

[ninetyninenine]

I mean none of this is contradictory to any of my statements. All of this can be true ALONG with my statements as well.

[tzs]

One of your statements was "They drain resources and get free care while offering no benefit other than satisfying maternal urges which were designed to work on human babies".

Any example of a dog offering a benefit other than satisfying maternal urges contradicts that statement.

In addition to the non-maternal urge satisfying benefits he named I'll give another: protecting human children. When I was around 4 our dog stopped me from going and picking up a rattlesnake. The dog blocked me from getting closer to the snake and barked until my Mom came to investigate.

[ninetyninenine]

I meant it in a general sense from a biological and evolutionary perspective.

Obviously from other perspectives it’s different or else why would someone even own a dog if it had zero benefit?