I mean yeah, if you really want to be literal about it people have kept all manner of creatures since time immemorial. Even with dogs no one really knows just exactly how and when their domestication was started it happened so long ago. A lot of the time it was generally species that had some type of utility such as most domesticated livestock we know today, but there have always been "hobbyists" of a sort who kept exotics; albeit more for status/power symbols than pet companionship up until the past century or so (as typically only the higher ups of society could afford the luxury of pets that had no intrinsic value).