“She refers to him as her baby and me as his grandmother”.
I do think dogs act as a replacement for those not yet having children and those choosing not to have children. One of my SIL’s actually had a “baby shower” when they adopted a puppy. Not only that... she sent out actual birth announcements. (yes, she is as nutty as a squirrel turd). Christmas cards included the humans and dogs in santa hats. That did change when they actually had a human child. I have heard it referred as the “dry womb syndrome”... no children or future thought of a child; thus, the dog becomes a replacement. Just a thought
I have a friend who is a childless, 40-something woman with 3 dogs that she considers ‘her children’. The only time she really irritated me is when I would mention a mile-stone my youngest reached and she invariably answered that one of her dogs could do the same thing.