A lot of married people certainly have wonderful relationships with their dogs, but when you’re single and your dog is the only other living thing in your house, it’s a really special relationship which I wanted CATHY to have.

Guisewite contrasts the commonplace affection many couples feel for a pet with the intensified bond that can form when a single person shares a home only with a dog. The quote frames the dog not as an accessory to domestic life but as a primary companion—an emotional counterweight to solitude and a daily witness to one’s routines, moods, and vulnerabilities. By saying she “wanted CATHY to have” that relationship, Guisewite signals an authorial choice: to give her protagonist a form of intimacy and support that is non-romantic, reliable, and narratively rich. It also subtly validates single life as complete and meaningful, while acknowledging its particular textures of loneliness and comfort.