Dogs

So why did God make dogs? For a reason or are they just an offshoot of the potential evoluntionary process that led to humans perhaps?

The secular answer would be the latter. I prefer that God created them for a reason.

I loved him -- in the Willard sense of that word: acting with the intent to do what is right and good for the object. To appreciate that, you must understand that prior to owning him, I was (and still am but to a lesser degree) a deeply selfish person. Rusty taught me how to break through the barrier.