I watched a movie I think during the 2000s. Not foreign, not black and white, and not “old timey”.

It was a movie where a woman owns a dog (I don’t remember what kind of dog)  then unfortunately loses her dog in a fire. She has a male friend and then suddenly a man appears in their life who has the spirit of a dog in him. He acts like a dog, pees like a dog, etc but he’s a human man. They become friends with him and he makes them laugh and it’s all fun.  The woman doesn’t know it is actually her dog reincarnated as that man. I think the other guy, her friend, knows it is though.

There also might be another character or two that are friends with them but I have only really seen the middle towards the end of the movie, and don’t really remember much. But at a point in the movie, the man tells the woman that he is actually her dog and proves it by telling her what she whispered to him when they were in the fire, which was “I love you”. That is when she believes it is him. And I also remember towards the end of the movie, as if it was all on a certain time schedule, the man somehow doesn’t have the spirit of her dog anymore and starts acting like a regular guy. I remember it happens when he is sitting on a couch.

It is a funny movie if I remember correctly, definitely not scary, or a thiller/horror etc. And it is not The Shaggy Dog. I’ve been searching for this movie for months, but very hard since I don’t remember the year, any of the actors, or really the entire detailed plot from beginning to end. Please help.