I'll be honest--the empath, human part of me would choose the dog; the part of me that feels societal peer pressure might go the other way if pressured. I hope not, but it's a possibility.

This takes me back to my childhood exasperation and a reason for my deep depression through youth and young adulthood--when there's in actuality enough money in the world to meet everyone's basic needs, why aren't everyone's basic needs met?

Ultimately, to live my life, I had to stop stewing on this question. But, when I come back to it, it's still quite depressing and infuriating.