My two boys got all the brains and the good looks.
I just pay the vet bills and scoop the poop. Posted on 02/10/2006 10:18:31 AM PST by girlangler
News Release March 29, 2004
Study Reveals That Dogs Resemble Their Owners As a Result of Selection
Do people really resemble their pets? A resemblance in a movie or on TV between a pet and its owner has occasionally tickled our funny bone. The results of a recent study suggest that a resemblance between owner and dog may be actually determined by the pet lover's selection.
The research, by Michael M. Roy and Nicholas Christenfeld, both of the University of California, San Diego, found that when people pick a pet, they seek one that, at some level, resembles them. These findings will be published in the May issue of Psychological Science, a publication of the American Psychological Society.
The study investigated two possible scenarios that could produce similarity between people and their dogs. One would involve some convergence in features over time, meaning the similarity had grown with the length of ownership. The other would involve people selecting dogs that are like them. (This second situation suggests greater similarity between people and their purebred dogs than between people and their mutts, because a mutt puppy's final appearance is unpredictable, and its selection might also involve less foresight and deliberation.)
Forty-five dogs (25 purebreds and 20 mutts) and their owners were separately photographed. Owners were photographed from the waist up, wearing whatever clothes they had chosen that day and whatever facial expression they chose for the picture. Dogs were photographed facing forward, with the whole dog visible. (The dogs also made whatever facial expression they chose, though often with more emphasis on a steadily lolling tongue.) Judges were shown a picture of one owner and a picture of that owner's dog and one other dog, with the task of picking out the true match.
The judges were able to most often able to properly match the owner and dog. The judges found no resemblance between mutts and their owners, providing evidence that owners tend to choose a dog that looks like them, rather than owners and dogs grow alike over time.
For more information, contact Christenfeld at nchristenfeld@ucsd.edu, or for a complete copy of this article, visit the APS Media Center at www.psychologicalscience.org/media.
Psychological Science is ranked among the top 10 general psychology journals for impact by the Institute for Scientific Information. The American Psychological Society represents advocating science-based research in the public's interest.
My two boys got all the brains and the good looks.
I just pay the vet bills and scoop the poop. 
Ha! Those pictures crack me up.
I want a dog...nice, fairly big dog...
What IS that guy on the right thinking?
What an expression!!!!!!
OMG, perfect likenesses.
They crack me up because when I was showing my lab, there was a woman at all the shows who showed a doberman and looked exactly like him. Tall, elegant, very tidy and groomed with short neat black hair and she always wore black and tan when she showed him. They were a terrific pair who undoubtedly showed well because they looked so great together.
That pretty well sums it up, but we love our pups anyway, don't we?
In my case, I'd probably fit with a Golden or something along those lines. A bit on the goofy and scatterbrained side, with a tendency toward untidiness at times...
I'd never look elegant. ;-)
Interesting that'd she'd even wear black and tan! Wonder if that was a conscious decision to match the dog or if her natural tastes tended that way.
My girl Lucy is at the breeders right now having fun. Hopefully we'll soon have lots of little Lucys running around here.
I have several people begging for a puppy -- all checked out to be very reponsible pet owners and lovers. If not they wouldn't get a puppy.
I'll probably get attached to every one and they'll have to pry them away from me.
I miss my baby. She is with me 24/7, and I feel so lost without her by my side :(
My 6 year old son insisted that any dog we got had to look like him. No matter what sog I showed him it never looked right. About six months ago I saw an ad for a free cream lab puppy. His pictures were cute, so we went to get him. Now, we always tease my son about having a long tongue (he can touch his nose). We met this dog and he just seemed so much like our son somehow. We knew it was a perfect match when the man giving him away said about the dog, "He has the longest tongue I have ever seen on a dog."
I don't know how it can really be a result of "selection" when most of us are picking babies, who don't quite look just as they will most of their lives and w/in a year.
If we all picked out adults, well, that might be different. I've only ever picked out babies. Though I must admit, both my GS girls have been gorgeous w/fine chiseled features. ;-)
The only time I picked a dog by breed (as opposed to the dog picking me or by adopting a mutt), the long, blondish hair was the only thing we had in common. How I wish I were so elegant, slender and lovely as my dear collie was!
I don't know how it can really be a result of "selection" when most of us are picking babies, who don't quite look just as they will most of their lives and w/in a year.
If we all picked out adults, well, that might be different. I've only ever picked out babies. Though I must admit, both my GS girls have been gorgeous w/fine chiseled features. ;-)
Love those sable Shepherds!
OMF'nG! That is hillarious!
I think my dogs are better looking than me too (LOL). Thanks for the post - it was cute and interesting.
Uh oh ... Chihuahua owner here.
OMG, I tried this and it says I am a PUG :)
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