In the highlands of West Papua, pigs are used as currency, pets, and food. Women will even allow the pigs to suckle human milk, according to the Travel Channel show "Living with the Mek." That's a closer relationship than I've ever heard of any Westerner having with an animal, dog or otherwise. ALL Domesticated animals are strongly tied to the development of human society as we know it (see, for example, "Guns, Germs, and Steel"). Dogs are not more important than other domesticated species just because they were hunting companions -- large domesticated species have been historically necessary for large-scale farming, which allowed for trade specialization and eventually to the technological developments allowing for the creation of the computer that you're typing on. There's nothing inherently more wrong about people eating dogs than there is about people eating pigs or cows. We should be less concerned about the species source of our meat (with respect to domesticated animals) and more concerned with the consumption of meat without reverence to the ethical and environmental concerns of doing so. There are ethics to be considered when eating any meat, whether it's factory farmed far away from your home and you never have to look the animal in the eye or if you raised the animal yourself. Dogs (and cats) aren't different, and if you're starving, eat Sparky, just give thanks first.