I don’t think you will find any photos or portraits of a “gadol” with a pet dog, much less a cat or gerbil. Going back to the time of the avos, we know that as shepherds, they more likely than not had herding dogs that were work dogs but not household pets. My recollection from some prior exchanges on the this question is that there are some references in gemorah about prohibitions on keeping dogs that pose a risk of personal injury or property damage to neighbors. I would imagine that in the Alte Heim, the challenges of feeding large families precluded the notion of keeping pets for pleasure (rather than as workdogs or cats to control vermin and pests). Even today, i don’t recall seeing a photo of some gadol or chashuvah rav sitting at his shtender learning with a pet schnauzer at his feet. I’ve also heard some argue that there are inyanim regarding walking a taking care of a dog on shabbos that raise questions. At the other end of the spectrum, there are some ehrliche yidden who treat the petirah of a pet like a member of the family, even to the point of engaging in some kind of “levayah” for Lassie.
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