Heading Towards Frustration

Google is not helping me. All of the links I find are more concerned with the welfare of animals and animal rights, which isn't what I'm looking for. The more I think about it the more I realize that research is going to be really difficult since not many people write about dressing up pets and such. What is the world's obsession with dressing up pets? I don't get it at all. Sure it might be cute, but clothes? Really? I've also wondered whether pets need humans or if humans need pets. It has been proven that pets are therapeutic in some cases. Do pets choose their owners or do owners choose their pets? In today's society there are movies, books, magazines and even stores dedicated to pets. Does the desire to control an object bring about the attraction to owning a pet? Or do pets really increase happiness? These are all random questions that I will be trying to answer if I can ever find any resources... ahhh