Most people just get so occupied by the human-looking sims, they don't pay enough attention to the pets. You have to look before you can see.

Don't worry - my two most popular, highest-reputation sims have one and three nice points. They're well-socialized and don't go around being mean. Even my sim most likely to pick fights usually does it to people he can plausibly believe are doing his friends some kind of wrong. I'm afraid jealousy is the only good explanation for the fights he picks with his mother-in-law, though. Mean sims may have small circles of friends, but they value them highly.

I'd be scared to have Jasper help out with the kid while my spouse was home, myself...