i think we humans are just not in tune with our emotions, we're so chronically isolated and depressed that we never learn to pick up on small vibes and how to help others deal with tough times.
Animals on the other hand have no such worries, they pick up on clues that you're sad and do what they can to help, and over time they learn that the human always laughs and feels better when they lay on their chest and incessantly lick their face.
this is literally what we do in scandinavia, we have a king/queen who might technically actually have fewer rights than regular people (which can of course simply be solved by abdicating) since they can't really do anything "political", and they just go around doing PR.
Works pretty well IMO, of course it feels a little bit shit that they get all kinds of luxury for being born royal, but hey, it satisfies a lot of monarchists and is otherwise basically meaningless so why not.