Is it the intention that animals who have had a close association with human beings shall gain individuality, that they shall have consciousness in their own right?

There is individual survival for domestic animals who have had a close association with humans. They have been helped to achieve an individual development that is not possible with other animals. It is part of the wonderful relationship that can exist between a human being and an animal, each helping the other to develop spiritually. We help the animals who come into our surroundings to achieve a consciousness that is more individual than it otherwise would have been. It is that which survives death, but where the more evolved ‘human’ expression is lacking the animal consciousness joins the group soul.