are our dogs companions or property?

Further to my post yesterday about how we think about our dogs, today I received an email from PetMD with a discussion of words we use to refer to our pets.

Is Penny 'it'? Or is the correct pronoun 'she'? (I think 'she'. She's as much a female animal as I am.)

Is she my 'pet'? My 'companion'? My property?

At the bottom of the PetMD article there are many interesting comments. Some hate the idea of pets as property, but one person says that the concept of 'owning' a dog gives him rights and means no one can harm his dog. On the other hand, to me the danger might be that it means only that if someone harms his dog they have to pay him recompense.

No money could make up to me the distress if someone harmed Penny.