My lovely lady Labrador and I do our 7 daily miles, play stick games, she chases squirrels (tree rats), bunnies etc and swims until the ice gets too much on the rivers. Every afternoon we spend an hour of quality time in the back yard playing soccer ball games etc. She has a sandbox where she digs next to the paver brick patio. One of the holes in almost to China now.
She is my constant companion for 13 hours a day 5 days a week, save when I go out to the store etc. (That is never more than a couple of hours and always after the morning run so she is pretty tired.
) I am always ready to play with her if she wants that. She lets me work in the studio and get house things done so she can rest up for the next session.
I love her very much and she returns that feeling in wonderful ways. (My entire bald head gets completely licked at least twice daily when I am changing out my running shoes.) We treat her like a princess and she enjoys that very much.
In any relationship you get back proportionate to what you invest in it. I choose to invest heavily in maintaining as best a positive relationship as I can with my wife, my son, my dog and my friends...many of whom are dogs.
Time to hit that (frozen) trail.