Benefits of having pets and why people own pets

I think that there are a variety of reason why people keep pets, going back hundred of years to the time when the half-wild dogs stayed around the human camps to glean the food scraps; and then became the camp guard dogs. I like to imagine that families adopted some of the little puppies, and raised them as pets for their children. After that, the bond was started, and humans and dogs have lived together ever since.
Dogs learned to guard the flocks, and even to herd the sheep, and alerted the shepards to attacks by hungry wolves.
As life became more settled, dogs and cats made the transition to becoming our house pets, and through selective breeding; we have developed just about every size and shape of dog that is possible. People that want large dogs can have one, and little old ladies like me can have our toy-sized Yorkie-poo to keep us company around the house.
Personally, my Chipper is like my little friend that is always there, and I can talk to him about everything. He always seems to listen intently, and never fails to keep a secret. So, to me the reason we have our pets is because they love us so much, and accept us no matter what.