Animal companionship?

Question

When were animals first used strictly for companionship? I can’t find the answer in my usual places for information (I.E. books) I also figured that other people might find it interesting as well!

Answer 1

It might be impossible to answer the question without doubt.

I found evidence of close bonds between humans and dogs dating back to 10,000 BC, but noone can say for sure whether this dog was kept purely as a companion or for a practical use like a guard dog.

In 1978, at a late Paleolithic site in northern Israel, for instance, a tomb was uncovered where about 12,000 years ago a person had been buried with a dog or wolf puppy. The hand of the dead person, who was around 50 years old, was placed on the animal’s shoulder. It is likely that the dog was sacrificed when the person died in order that it could accompany the person onwards in his or her spiritual journey (Davis & Valla, 1978). (source)

The same source states later:

[T]here is ample evidence from ancient Greece that people kept a number of bird species in cages for company, and according to Kitchell (2011: p. 19) next to dogs, birds ‘may have been the second most common type of pet in ancient Greece’.

The first animals with no other task than to be a companion might be lap dogs. These are several breeds of dogs selected and bred for their small size and friendly disposition. DNA test revealed that Pekingese dogs are one of the oldest breeds of dogs and one of the least genetically diverged from the wolf. There is evidence of Pekingese lap dogs as early as 700 CE in China.

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A (for me) very interesting sidenote is that the phenomenon of companion animals seemed to be much more prominent in "primitive" societies than in Europe.

(Serpell, 1996: Chapter 4). Among these peoples, keeping some animals for company, not food, seemed to be the norm rather than the exception; humans were unwilling to sell or give away their animals, and became distraught with grief when the animals were taken away from them by force (Serpell, 1996: Chapter 4). These attachments are seen as strange by the European authors who write about them, and who express amusement or astonishment at the degree of affection so-called primitive peoples expressed towards animals (Serpell, 1996: Chapter 4). These accounts themselves suggest, however, that while attachments to animals were not widely accepted in Europe, they were nonetheless widespread elsewhere. Keeping animals as companions seems to be a widely practiced part of human life; it may be the European failure to do so until relatively recently that requires explanation. (source; unfortunately the link to the original source is broken)

That implies that keeping animals purely as companions might date back furher than the earliest evidence but we lack objective evidence from these "primitive" people.