They can also be a lot of work at times. Last weekend we spent a good portion of Sunday trying to get our dogs trimmed for the hot weather next month. One of them only took about a half hour but the other took several hours.
I'm not sure what kind of dog she is but I think she is a mixture of Australian Shepard and Welsh Corgi. Judging by her hair, she should be a polar bear dog because her coat is extremely difficult to trim.
Several years back, one professional groomer in our area agreed to trim her but refused the year after that. So we had to buy heavy duty professional clippers (the others get too hot) and trim her ourselves.
Oh yes, animals can be a lot of work. Cats are more work than people think; it's all a labor of love, of course:)