If you visit any park, it won’t be hard to witness some strange sights.
Perhaps you’ll see a scruffy bearded man walking with a dog that looks like they just came from the same barbershop, or a seemingly aggressive guy holding a mastiff.
You might also spot a sporty-looking girl jogging with an Afghan hound.
Why do so many people choose pets that resemble themselves? The answer may help you appreciate the close relationship between humans and their four-legged friends.
In fact, the choice of which dog to adopt bears many similarities to how we choose our partners.
Michael Roy from the University of California, San Diego, was one of the first to experiment with this idea.
Why do so many people choose pets that resemble themselves?
He visited three parks where people walked their dogs and took pictures of the dogs and their owners separately.
Then, he asked a group of participants to match these pairs.
Without providing any hints, he found that the participants matched owners and dogs with a surprisingly high degree of accuracy.
This result was replicated multiple times.
However, it’s important to note that the experiments were only conducted with purebred dogs and sometimes based solely on physical appearances: women with curly hair tended to prefer dogs with long droopy ears, and heavier individuals often preferred rounder dogs.
Nonetheless, the experiments also indicated less prominent features, such as similar eye shapes between the owner and the dog.
When the eyes in the photographs were obscured, matching the pairs became more challenging for the participants.
The experiments were only conducted with purebred dogs and sometimes based solely on physical appearances.
This may be due to a human tendency to seek familiarity: A dog may be more readily accepted if it resembles a family member that we know and love.
However, psychologists argue that this could be a result of our evolutionary history and mate selection: Dating someone who looks like us may ensure that their genes are generally compatible with ours.
As a result, we often prefer things that are somewhat similar to us.
One other example is that humans tend to choose cars in the same way they choose dogs. Consequently, our vehicles sometimes resemble our pets.
We not only enjoy connecting with those who look like us, but we also tend to favor those who share similar personalities.
A few years ago, Borbala Turcsan from Eotvos University in Budapest decided to explore whether this applied to our four-legged friends as well.
“The relationship with our pets is very special. They are not just animals but family members, friends, so we believe they can develop in parallel with other relationships,” she said.
Human traits such as extroversion can influence the personality of pets.
The concept of dog personality may sound strange to some, but previous experiments have shown that human traits such as extroversion can influence the personality of dogs—for example, they may become more aggressive around strangers or often shy away and hide behind their owners.
Today, there is even an equivalent version of the Big Five personality traits for dogs: excitability, extroversion, commitment, agreeableness, and openness.
The canine version is based on simple behaviors, such as being “lazy” or “disinterested.”
Turcsan noted that dogs and their owners often share similar personalities.
“These similarities are actually even higher among married couples and friends,” she said.
Importantly, this correlation cannot be explained solely by the number of years the owner and dog have lived together. This means that pets do not simply mimic their owners.
Humans domesticated dogs 30,000 years ago to aid in hunting.
Instead, this personality seems to have been present in the dog from the beginning.
Perhaps we are wise to choose companions that truly fit us, as after all, a dog often outlives an average marriage.
Humans domesticated dogs 30,000 years ago to help us hunt. But over time, we nurtured them to become reflections of ourselves, fostering a close emotional bond that transcends the natural limits between species.
Today, they resemble us, act like us, and unlike other humans, they always respond to our affection.
In many ways, they are reflections of ourselves. It’s no wonder they are known as man’s best friend.
While about one-third of a dog’s personality is inherited, the other two-thirds are shaped by their environment—largely formed by their owners since they were puppies.
The French bulldog Antoine shares a striking resemblance to his owner Trancois. (Source: National Geographic)
Dogs are also “prepared” to trust their owners, as thousands of years of domestication have created a deep attachment to us.
“Much like the bond between a mother and child… This is the foundation of all social relationships between dogs and humans,” Turcsan said. Like children, dogs view their owners as role models, “and blindly trust that their owners know better.”
For instance, “if a noisy truck is coming, the dog will look back at its owner. If the owner is unconcerned, the dog will learn to disregard it as well,” she said.
Bender hopes her research will help people better understand dogs, especially those that play vital roles such as search and rescue dogs, police dogs, and service dogs.
