Right, that's what I tell people too. I still eat fish on occasion, and if I order food to go and it's accidentally meat, I will eat it to not waste it.

Have had a few relatives look at me blankly, like they've never considered it, when I tell them they don't NEED to be vegetarian but reducing meat/dairy requires little effort. Sometimes they will send me pictures of the reduced meat meals they make now, which I think is so cute haha. Meat even just as a side dish and not the main course goes a long way :)

Animals would still be getting exploited and killed tho

People aren't consuming less, though, they're consuming more. Global meat consumption is still rising. Despite supporting myself on a retail-industry income, I'm still able to be 100% vegan, and support zero animal cruelty.
Less is great. None is best. Your only rationale in your comment for why eating less animal products is better than going completely vegan is... that's the way you live so you want that to be the case?

Reducing without a strict diet is much easier for people. Small wins. If you can make a "I only eat meat, what are veggies?" person reduce their meat intake at all, that's a super big win. Changing your entire meal prep is a huge undertaking and most people just won't do it because it's too overwhelming. Reducing meat to a side, and being more mindful? Way easier.

Chickens just lay eggs. It's just a thing they do. The factory chicken farms are fucked and shouldn't exist but ethical eggs are a thing.

Then let's turn this on another angle: dogs came to be from a predator, and an apex one, capable and willing to prey on our species, unlike all other species we managed to domesticate.

Cats are not even domesticated, for all objective parameters. Cats are still predators, both potential and active. It is not without reason domestic cats are being viewed more and more as destructive for wild species.

I can go out on a leg and speculate these two species became viewed as food wrapped in myths, with tales of obtaining special powers or some other strange purpose besides avoiding death by lack of nourishment.

All other species we managed to tame came froma what are commonly considered prey animals and it was mostly a process of reducing the animals wariness to us.

Cows are considered a representation of one of the many indu gods and have a very unique status as such but are nonetheless still a source of food through the milk they provide.

Your examples are true and valid but I will insist those are exceptions and not norm. I live in a rural area and sheep, goats and cows are part of the landscape. The animals tolerate human presence, often understand it as a source of food and safety, but are wary, suspitious and generally keep their distance. Even pigs, that are considerably more inteligent than all farm animals don't easily mingle with humans. But any dog, even a feral one, will approach us willingly.

A very welcome bonus to my job is going to places where usually other people won't go and often find varying degrees of feral dogs. After the initial suspition, I find myself approached by the animals, observed, sniffed and "bothered" for pets and play. I wish I could do this with other animals but other animals avoid me and do their best to keep me as far away as possible.

Your remark on the lambs. The christian/jewish/islamic carried over the tradition from previous people. Sheep were often offerings towards supernatural entities but started as a resource/food source (wool and milk and finally meat).