This is no coincidence: why dogs are so similar to their owners

You probably noticed that dogs are very similar to their owners. Moreover, the similarity is manifested not only in some external features, but also in the behavior and character of the pets. It turns out that this unusual fact has a completely scientific explanation. Today we will talk about what scientists managed to find out by examining many pairs of people and their dogs.

To begin with, American researchers from a university in San Diego, California, decided to check whether dogs really look so much like their owners. To do this, they went to one of the city parks, where dog lovers usually walk with their pets. They asked volunteers to participate in a photo shoot: a man and his dog were photographed separately. Then the photographs showed a group of subjects who were supposed to reconstruct the pairs and determine where the dog is and where its owner is. The result exceeded all expectations: in the vast majority of cases, the experiment participants completed the task and were able to guess the pairs. It turned out that the facial features of a person and the appearance of his dog have much in common.

Scientists from the University of Budapest also dealt with this issue and that’s what they managed to find out. Psychological traits of the owner, such as his belonging to extroverts or introverts, are also traced in the behavior of his dog. So, for example, extroverts, people are sociable and active, often have moving dogs, easily coming in contact with others. But introverts are most often the owners of calm, balanced, and sometimes shy pets.

Psychologists suggest that this is due to the fact that a person, when choosing a pet, intuitively selects a puppy or dog that outwardly reminds him of himself. Thus, the human brain instinctively focuses on what is closer to it.