I have a history of animal rights activism but let me tell you what, if my family needed food on the table i'd kill my lovely cuddly cat in a heart beat, same with any other animal. As far as your question I think you should still get a dog. With the proper training they can be a life safer. Top dogs would be a A) Labrador retriever, excellent swimmers with webbed feet and water resistant coat, good hunter, fast learner, "gentle bite", and good larger build, B) German shepherd, great powerful jaws, known ability to stop attacking on command immediately (very rare trait among most dog breeds regardless of training), thick coat designed for comfort in all seasons, active learner, a favorite in WWII C) pit bull, Excellent at carrying bags (look into dog back packs), VERY powerful jaws, great guardian for children originally named the "nanny dog" and "defending dog". Highly used in WWI, D) german pointer, this dog has one of the best noses and is thought to be able to know all the individual scents of birds, able to track a variety of game and will "point" to pray rather than run around and make a lot of noise, very stealthy, great guard dog, easy to teach. All dogs have unique traits and weaknesses but have been mans best friend every since their domestication. Assuming you got a pig, you would have to most likely get a pot bellied since they are more pet friendly and clean. You would have to deal with raising a pig in the house which means giving them plenty of attention since they are social creatures, give them an area to root, and childproof because they are just as curious as puppies! Make sure the home is the right temp because they need to wallow in order to maintain body temp, and they need a pretty strict diet of fruits and veggies. You can't give them regular pig feed because it's LOADED in calories to fatten. Oh, and you will have to teach the pig to be quite because they LOVE to communicate and squeal. Honestly I'd stick with a dog lol.
