Whether you call them animals or not, people are different than lower animals, much different. You've identified maybe five categories-nonliving matter, living plants, lower animals, higher animals and people. But let's just go with two categories to make it simpler. We'll call them nonliving and living, the impersonal and the personal. Rocks and trees are impersonal.
People are personal.
I'll let you decide about your spaniel, but it doesn't affect the argument. I'm not sure. That's highly questionable, but let's just assume it could. People are always making things-paintings, sculpture, airplanes, you name it. Remember, we've got one part of the equation left, the critical part.