Dog and owner.

[a beat. it almost seems like it's joke?]

... awkward as that sounds, he admitted to it, too?

Just... he looked out for me. I worked to calm him down when things got bad. That's why... I tried to never get hurt. Back then, if something happened to me, I figured he'd lose it.

But when you and he started up your thing... we both agreed if something happened to me, he'd defer to you. Since it made sense, since... you were important to him.