Stumbling upon a dog that looks like its human, even if only a bit, is a cute occurrence that can brighten our days. While this phenomenon may come across as something exaggerated by pop culture, science has backed it up with several studies. Not only does it happen more than we think, it all seems to be rooted in psychology.
For starters, a study published in 2015 found that women with long hair had a preference for dogs with similarly long ears, like a beagle, while women with short hair were more inclined to adopt a short-eared pup, such as a husky. “There’s lots of ways that something can begin to feel familiar to you, one of which is you might have had a dog just like that as a kid,” Art Markman, a cognitive scientist and senior vice provost for academic affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, told CNN. “But another thing that could make something feel familiar is that it resembles something that you’ve encountered before—like, say, yourself.”
Meanwhile, research carried out by Sadahiko Nakajima from Department of Psychological Science, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan focused on a different feature. Nakajima found that dogs and owners resemble each other in the eye region, based on a study where students were shown two sets of photos of human-dog pairs unknown to the participants; one a real owner with their pet, one a random, “fake pair.” Not only did the majority of participants correctly spot the real pair, but covering the eye regions of either dogs or owners significantly reduced the participant's accuracy.
Three scientists from VU University in Amsterdam looked into obesity in pets and their humans. The researchers—Marieke Nijland, Frank Stam, and Jacob C Seidell—worked with 47 pairs of dogs and their owners and 36 pairs of cats and their owners with the help of three local veterinary clinics. They found a significant relationship between the degree of overweight dogs and the BMI of their owners. However, they didn't document a similar pattern between overweight cats and their humans.
But what about behavior? Brazilian psychologist Renata Roma points to evolutionary history, which has also prompted us to seek like-minded people to build relationships. “In evolutionary contexts, being in cohesive and predictable groups increased co-operation and survival,” she says. “These patterns continue to influence our relationships with others, favoring connections with people who appear to align with our values, behaviors or even physical traits. Apparently, similar mechanisms influence how we relate to dogs.”
However, Roma adds that pet parents can reinforce certain behaviors based on their own preferences or routines. All in all, beyond the similarities, there is always something bigger in each human-dog bond. “Just like in relationships between people, resemblance is not necessarily what holds us together. Although resemblance plays a role, sometimes the most meaningful bonds are not between those who are alike,” she explains. “What seems to matter the most is how well we connect, support each other, embrace potential differences, and build mutual understanding.”
Sources: If your dog looks like you, there may be a psychological reason; Confirmed: People Really Do Tend to Look Like Their Dogs; Dogs and Owners Resemble Each Other in the Eye Region; Do People Look Like their Dogs?; Overweight in dogs, but not in cats, is related to overweight in their owners
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