I am lucky enough to live in one of those urban areas where dog owners come to the parks and socialize and to meet people you need only have a dog. Not always easy for a single person to own a dog but they are great loneliness-remediators if you can keep one. Oh, btw, it's a myth they need a large place or a yard in order to live with you; a dog is a denning animal by nature and can live in a tiny place as long as it gets 3 hours of excursion per day... you can hire a dogwalker to do the noon walk if you work full time. They do need to go out for proper walks - just putting them out into a yard is deeply sinful. It makes them go stir-crazy and they start to bark at things.

How I would I have got to go hiking with my 10 yo neighbour and his sis if our dogs hadn't introduced us to each other, and to the parents?

In any case, it's very hard to have a miserable life if you have a nice dog.