5 Reasons why dogs and owners represent similar personality characteristics?

Iraj Irfan
3 min readNov 10, 2021

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It has been evident for many centuries that humans and dogs share a cordial relationship with each other. So it’s not a coincidence that a dog has been labeled as a man’s best friend. According to some researchers, there is a shred of formidable evidence that has a strong link with a dog’s personality.

A psychologist at Michigan University examined human relationships and dynamics regarding the bonding of animals, especially dogs. His results showed that the owners and their dogs possessed similar personality characteristics. For example, a highly enthusiastic person is likely to have a dog who is more agreeable and excited.

You must be thinking about how your personality traits would be as identical as those of your dog. So here are some illustrative reasons why dogs and owners might have similar personality characteristics.

Dogs replicate Human emotions

Dogs possess specific characteristics that help them to interpret human emotions. When a person is anxious and depressed, they can understand it and can also develop chronic anxiety. For example, if the owner is stressed, dogs will also exhibit some of these negative energies. Later, it can result in behavior problems such as loss of appetite, excessive howling or barking, or other disruptive issues.

However, the greater the interaction among owners with their pets, the more frequent is the positive response in adapting similar personality traits.

Canine Doppelgangers

An interesting tidbit has been found by researchers that dogs look-alike to their owners. This is known as the exposure effect. We choose things that resemble us. People also adopt dogs according to their familiarity with them. Hence, this can be one of the reasons why owners and dogs might have similar gazes.

It is also believed that the personality of dogs and their owners are more reflective than that of married couples. You can also search on Instagram about it using dog-owner lookalike hashtags.

Do breeds matter?

There are certain types of pet personalities that might be more compatible with you than that with others. Most of the dogs are mixed breeds (mutts) that possess the best qualities, often found in other breeds of dogs.

So when you'll adopt a dog, it will be more reliable and confident. This is one of the ultimate ways of identifying a dog’s personality which will be more compatible. Hence your ideal match would be reverent and polite.

Influence of Owners attachment and style

If you are a pet lover, chances are high that certain habits can influence your pets. If you fulfill every need of your dog by being there for him every time, they can grow over-sensitive. This can result in attachment problems or other issues such as separation-related disorders (SRD).

Hence attachment styles are also related to different personality traits. So if you’re adopting good, engaging, and interactive habits with your dogs, they are likely to be more enthusiastic.

The training of your dog

All pet owners have different styles of providing training to their dogs. Your different approaches towards training your dog also help to determine the different personality traits of its owner.

For example, if you have a flexible approach in training, then your dog is more likely to be free. If you have more disciplined and strict training, then your dog is more likely to be reserved. Hence different attitudes also help to determine the different personality traits of your dog.

Conclusion:

So do dogs have the same personality as that of their owners?

Well, not certainly, as different dogs have different personalities. Most of the traits are from the kind of breed they belong to so we cannot say that they represent their owners.

However, in some circumstances, they can be similar as dogs are pretty good at adopting different styles of their owners.

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Iraj Irfan

Writing Content to add value to the reader’s life!