on one hand, i want to claim that i am so underqualified to answer this question. on the other, i grew up terrified of dogs, so wouldn't that make me... at least kind of qualified?
the thing is, it just seems very hard to think about what a good alternative to a dog would be. my impression is a dog is a very particular type of companion. it would be madness to say that a cat is a good alternative to a dog. a good alternative to a dog is something you can regard as one would regard a dog, except without the terrifying bits? what is that?
the best i've got is... well, i saw "puppygirl" on the timeline recently. so maybe a puppygirl?