Banjo and Nemo stuck at Associate

[cndiangirl]

I've reached the point where I can adopt pets, but for some reason Banjo and Nemo are both stuck at full two stars and I can't progress anymore. Every day I give them items that add 7 or 8 points of friendship but their friendship bars aren't moving.

[Sketch Elder]

Just keep doing it. It sounds like their relationship bars are between stars, which means you can't see the progress, but that doesn't mean that no progres is taking place.