Author Topic: What your pet says about you  (Read 1917 times)

~flower~

  • Getbig IV
  • ****
  • Posts: 3597
  • D/s
What your pet says about you
« on: April 23, 2007, 01:16:57 PM »
What your pet says about you

In many ways, what's on the other end of the leash is a mirror for who we are.

By Steve Dale

People associated Winston Churchill with a bulldog, but he actually owned a miniature poodle.

We've all witnessed the phenomenon: A lady waddles down the street with her basset hound, who looks just like she does. And according to psychologist Nicholas Christenfeld, it's more than a coincidence. The results of his 2004 study at the University of California, San Diego, revealed that, indeed, dogs do resemble their owners.

But do our pets also mirror who we are, reflecting our personalities in addition to our appearance? "There's no doubt that sometimes I can tell an awful lot about the people at the other end of the leash by whatever problems I'm seeing in the dog," says veterinary behaviorist Nicholas Dodman, editor of Puppy's First Steps and director of the behavior clinic at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton, Mass. "Pushy dogs tend to have pushover owners, and there's even a study out there that supports this. In my experience, people who have anxious dogs do tend to be more nervous. All those rescue dogs with problems are rescued by nurturing people. The personality of your dog is a pawprint for the personality of their owners."

Dodman's perceptions are right on, according to psychologist Stanley Coren. In his 1995 to 1997 study, Coren, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, found specific personality traits in people likely would match themselves up with certain kinds of dogs. For example, self-assured people were most likely hooked up with terriers. "Historically, the dog group most often owned by U.S. presidents (including George W.) are terriers," says Coren, who wrote Why We Love the Dogs We Do.

But we're also pretty egocentric about choosing our dogs. It's no coincidence that we choose dogs that look like us. "There's a potent force to take care of what genetically resembles us," Christenfeld says. "We're attracted to what mirrors our image."

And sometimes the mirror image is quite striking. To test this out, I played what I call the Match Game at a local dog park.

I had no problem matching the dogs with their owners -- for instance, the beautifully groomed golden retriever with the equally beautiful, golden-haired young woman, or the Goth-looking youth with the spiky-collared Rottweiler.

However, Lee Spark Jones, a psychologist, dog behavior consultant and family counselor in Portland, Ore., dismisses the game as "silly stereotypes and broad generalizations." "Who's to say that a little old lady can't have snakes?" she asks. "Or a tattooed guy can't have a bunny rabbit?"

Christenfeld's data, though, indicates otherwise. "You see a picture of a sweet little old lady and a picture of a heavily tattooed tough guy," he says. "One owns 20 snakes, and the other has a bunny rabbit as a pet. Which person do you think has the snakes? I think that there is some predictability to this."

Robi Ludwig, a psychotherapist and frequent guest on "Larry King Live" and "Today," agrees. "We tend to have pets that reflect us. It's like any relationship. When choosing friends or a spouse, we tend to pick what will complement us."
An introvert might subconsciously choose an outgoing Labrador retriever because, deep down, he wants to approach people.

Even in the kind of pet we choose, we may be making a statement, says Lynn Hoover, a family therapist in Pittsburgh and president of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. "If you have a ferret, you may be telling the world, 'I'm a non-conformist.' If you have a Labradoodle, you're saying, 'I'm as fashionable as my dog breed,' " she says. "Anyway, that's the message others perceive, and you intentionally -- or at least subconsciously -- want to communicate it."

One could speculate that people who have only cold-blooded animals (reptiles and amphibians), or who have fish, are clearly less interested in cuddling with their pets. But are they any less affectionate people? Coren concedes the issue does get muddied. For example, a person may choose a reptile because he is really into herpetology, or choose a Newfoundland dog because his parents and grandparents always had Newfoundlands. "Still, in most cases, there is a reason beneath the surface as to why a pet is chosen."

Family therapist Hoover offers the example of an introvert who subconsciously chooses an outgoing golden retriever because deep down she wants to approach people but doesn't have the social skills or the confidence to do so on her own, but she knows the dog will do it for her. "In other instances, people may choose an aloof dog -- a more standoffish breed, such as the Afghan -- because they really are that way themselves," Hoover says. "It's a good match."

Coren says consciously or subconsciously we're making the right match for a reason -- except for cats. Those who select cats as pets do so because they find the species beautiful. "Our cats do not necessarily look like we do," he says. And Coren points to a specific personality (more introverted and less sociable) that likes cats and dislikes dogs, although that theory doesn't hold for those who like both cats and dogs.

Actually, I argue that it's the cats who may be choosing us. They literally wander into our lives, appearing at the doorstep and demanding to be adopted, or rubbing up against us at the shelter and purring at us. Maybe such cats are secretly assessing our personalities, seeking to match themselves with the right people.

"I'm not sure they have secret meetings to decide which people to adopt," psychotherapist Ludwig laughs. "Few people would keep any cat that shows up on their doorstep. Perhaps, though, the cat with the orange face and golden eyes might remind you of one you had when you were a kid, or maybe the cat is athletic and you fancy yourself an athlete. Subconsciously, you think about the cat being right for your image and for who you are."

In fact, sometimes it seems there just isn't an explanation for why people choose their pets. There may be no physical resemblance, and the personalities don't seem to fit -- but the relationship still works. For example, when he was in office, people associated Winston Churchill with a bulldog, but he actually owned a miniature poodle named Rufus.

But then, could it be that the inner Churchill was more suited for a poodle personality? Maybe gruffy Churchill needed to express his softer side through a little poofy dog. "That's probably true," Hoover says.

Dodman says he likely would score very well at the Match Game. He can match the "poser" (he's got a pug with a rhinestone collar), the guy wearing his heart on his sleeve (he's with a rescued pit bull) and other types with their respective dogs. What's at the other end of the leash is a mirror to who you are in more ways than one.


http://www.usaweekend.com/07_issues/070422/070422pets.html