Researchers from Bath Spa University in Britain studied the possible similarities in the appearances and personality traits of the pets and their owners, and concluded that appearance influences choice of pedigree by animal lovers.
Researcher Dr Lance Workman said: "There is a little bit of truth in the theory that owners look like their dogs, but if you are of a robust build you will probably have a more robust dog so that you can get lots of exercise. If you are more slight you may want a poodle as you think that they need less exercise."
Workman, together with his colleagues, involved some 70 odd people in this study, who were asked to match 41 dog owners to their possible breeds.
Study volunteers who already had pets were shown pictures of other petdefine owners and asked to guess whether they had a labrador, poodle or staffordshire bull terrier. The volunteers fared almost twice as well as would be expected by chance.
Owners of labrador, poodle and bull terrier pedigree were then also asked to fill up questionnaires to assess the similarities between the pets and owners’ habits. Interestingly, very little differences came up in this part of the study too.
Volunteers who did not have any pets were then shown pictures of dog owners to guess which pedigree of the three they owned. Their guesses were not really ideal but were found nearly correct for almost 60 percent of the study.
However, Workman further explained that the same influence is not true for personalities of the dog owners and their pets.
"When we tested the dog owners' personalities, we found no strong links between any particular personality trait and choice of dog breed, so any shared qualities are only skin deep," quoted Workman.
"What this study shows is that you shouldn't judge a person by their dog, but we all do," he added.
The findings of the research were presented at the annual conference of British Psychological Society held in Brighton.
Post new comment