I found this article online in the Cape Argus:Q: Is there any truth to the old folk wisdom that people and their dogs tend to look alike?
A: Bulldog-faced Winston Churchill is often cited as an example of this but the problem is Churchill did not own a bulldog, says psychologist Stanley Coren in Why We Love the Dogs We Do. His beloved Rufus was a poodle, with narrow pointed muzzle, clear unwrinkled face and close-set eyes - not the image of his master.
But, argues Coren, people come to love their own face generally, so much so that some experts believe that children who look very much like one of their parents tend to be favoured by that parent. And it might suggest that if the general features of a certain breed of dog match our own face, we'll feel a little warmer toward those dogs.
Not a lot of scientific work has been done on this, but Coren himself studied the reactions of 104 university women to slides of four different dog breeds.
In general the women with longer hair that covered their ears and framed their face preferred the English Springer Spaniel and the Beagle with their longer lopped ears. They rated the dogs as more likable, friendly, loyal and intelligent.
Women with shorter hair and visible ears, however, favoured the Siberian Husky and the Basenji with their clearly visible pricked ears.
Well, I don't know about this. But my Human is a female with shorter hair and visible ears.
4 comments:
Hmmm. My mom has always had long hair that covers her ears and framed her face. But then, she loves Huskies because we are the best dogs in the world, not because of our ears!
Indy, I think you're right. Humans tend to over analyze things.
Well, my mom has always had hair that covered her ears and framed her face (even if at its shortest is to her shoulders), and out of the dogs in the study, she would take a husky over a spaniel or beagle any day! But she got me! The other day we were watching the Animal Planet and there was a british dog show...anyhow for a break they did a story about this fellow who really did look like his dog-they even entered a look-alike contest for fun...and WON! Now I wish I remembered what breed that was, some English breed I think.
My Human once saw a guy at a gas station who looked a lot like his Miniture Schnauzer.
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