I teach in an inner city school system and actually this week, the language arts unit is about human characteristics of animals. So as a pre survey type thing, there were 4 questions that the kids had to rate on a scale of 0-4 (0=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree). Then the kids read a chapter from Gary Paulsen's book Windsong...
1. We can learn things from animals
2. Animals can be funny
3. Animals can tell how we feel.
And one more that i can't remember...I was sadly amazed at the number of kids that had 0s & 1s on the questions.
Although, when talking w/ the kids who did have animals - mostly dogs and pit bull dogs kept outside, I just don't think they have the same relationship w/ their "pets" as you & I