By Maryann Apostle

I have often heard that dogs and their owners resemble each other.  The question is did the dog resemble the human when it was first acquired or does this phenomena happen as time goes by?  Married couples often start to look like each other as time goes by, so why not dogs and their owners also?  Of course most people will deny that they look like either their spouse or their dog, but I have seen plenty of pictures of both human couples and dogs and their owners and have definitely noticed that an awful lot of them do look alike.

There was actually a study that appeared in the journal, Psychological Science, based on research from the University of California by Nicholas Christenfeld and Michael Roy.  They established that when people select a dog, “they try to find one that resembles them to some degree and, when they get a purebred, they get what they desire”. “When you pick a purebred, you pick it specifically because of how it’s going to look as a grown-up,” said Nicholas Cristenfeld, UCSD professor of psychology and co-author of the study, which appears in the current issue of Psychological Science.

This brings up another question – do dogs mimic the personality traits of their owners?

There is a theory that the longer the animal has been with its owner, the more likely it has picked up their characteristics.  Prof. Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire did a survey and asked 2,500 people about the characters of both themselves and their pets.  The result of this survey was that many pet owners stated they often acted like their pet and shared many of the same qualities, such as contentment, brainpower, self-reliance and a sense of humor.

In England there was a charity dog show which held a competition to pick the dog most like its owner, with one of the prizes going to both the owner and the dog with the most beautiful pair of legs.  There is also a store in London where an owner and dog can find matching outfits.  This may be carrying things a bit too far but some people firmly believe in the old motto, “love me, love my dog”.

I have not heard anything about cats either resembling their owners or even looking like them, but I have a cat that does look a lot like Donald Trump – he has the same color hair and also the same tough look on his face.  He also likes to hiss at people.

I’m just hoping that no one will get the bright idea to have plastic surgery in order to make them look like their pet.  Although, I do remember hearing about a woman who was known as the cat lady, she had so much plastic surgery that she did start to look like a cat (but not a cute one).

Pets do so much to enhance our lives that it’s no wonder animal lovers are such a devoted group.