Walking into the ExCel London yesterday afternoon I couldn’t help but think to myself – this place is a canine lover’s paradise and feline lover’s Hell! The event I was attending at the East London event was the annual ‘Discover Dogs’ extravaganza. It certainly got tails wagging all weekend with agility shows, best in show and let’s not forget every dog on the face of the Earth on show, quite literally!
As I made my way through all the drooling, barking and fluff, which took quite some time to be honest (I had to stop and stroke almost every dog breed, except Chihuahua’s ew, sorry)! I noticed an uncanny resemblance between owner and pooch. Turns out not only does this happen in dogs but cats also as I later found out:
Psychology #1 – Matchy Matchy
Keeping it short and sweet, it turns out that there is infact a correlation between physical resemblance of owner and pet. Pinpointing in particular – the eyes! A study conducted by Sadahiko Nakajima, a psychologist from Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan concluded that it’s not about hairstyles (which I personally find surprising), gender or weight but instead it’s the windows to the soul! A similarity between peepers seems to be the underlying reasoning behind the similarity in physical attributes between man and dog.
But what is it about the eyes? It’s been proven that colour doesn’t have an impact so is it their shape? Their twinkling cuteness? This is yet to be determined. Atleast it’s been narrowed down to some part of their being!
And turns out, similarities in owner and animal it doesn’t stop with dogs. Although we may not all be blessed with those stunning cat eyes, studies have shown that cats can actually take on personality traits of their owners. Why? Because they’re users! I mean…. reasons could be that the owner brings out a certain side of their cat – more playtime = a more boisterous cat, who will most likely want to play more often. More cuddling = a more affectionate cat. SO the cat seems similar to the owner because the owner’s personality brings out more of that personality type in the cat. It’s like that one outgoing friend we all have, none of want to go out clubbing and the next minute we’re gyrating our hips on the dancefloor at 2am all because they batted their eyelashes at us. You are ‘that’ friend to your feline. Cats can also adopt sleeping and eating schedules of their owners too! How bizarre and cute!
But enough about cats back onto canines! Below are some of pups of the day:
Psychology #2 – Is there really a ‘cat’ person or a ‘dog’ person?
Perhaps your preference for pooch over puss in boots or vice versa has more to say about you as a person than you first thought out.
Business Insider seems to think so, according to their report:
- Dogs Owners earn a higher salary than cat owners
- Cat owners are 4 x more likely to work in a creative field than dog owners.
- Dog owners are bigger fans of horror and action films than cat owners.
- Cat owners tend to enjoy reading, writing, dogs owners – sports and travel.
Whether you favour a feline or prefer a pup. You can’t deny the appeal of these! Unless ofcourse you’re a cold hearted robot. I’d encourage any animal fan to head to a convention near you. It boosts your mood for sure.
The Neon Squid 