Oh, and re the dog being part of the family. It is, absolutely, a JW trigger.
The old JWS were taught that animals were not to be coddled or treated as people. I'm sure that one of our great researchers has an Awake! (TM) quote at their fingertips. So, this issue touches on the JW 'old style rules', and when dealing with our parents, any little issue that is against the 'rules' as they see them, take them (and us) back to the roles of child and parent. It is most difficult to establish an adult-to-adult relationship with JW parents, who grew up to see things in an authoritarian way (which was the cultural norm in their day as well); ie, child obeys parent, and never questions.