Have you ever observed people with their animals – and noticed certain similarities? Presumably everyone knows examples in which the animal and owner are at least visually similar. But also when it comes to personality, we influence our pets – and they influence us.
“Anyone who observes a person and their dog will quickly discover similarities,” says Laurent Amann, behavioral biologist, animal trainer and author, in the new episode of the DeineTierwelt podcast “Pet-Talks: Klartext”. “And these similarities not only affect the visual, but above all the personality.”
Study shows: the owner’s personality rubs off on his dog
This is also confirmed by a study from 2012 : According to the Hungarian researchers, dogs and their people are similarly neurotic, extroverted, dutiful, sociable and open. You notice that in everyday life too, says Amann, who deals with the interplay between human and animal personalities in his book “ The Secret Soul of My Dog ”.
“When a nervous person walks their dog, you can tell that the dog is also very nervous,” he explains. “The dog expresses the nervousness of its owner.”
Your dog can mirror your personality
Because animals are, according to animal trainer Amann, “very good at reflecting positive and negative characteristics of their owners”. And it is precisely this mirrored behavior that pet owners can use to work on their own trauma. “Animals think much less complexly than we humans,” says Amann. “We analyze immediately and then formulate a very complex message. Animals, on the other hand, sense something and then express it. That makes them good mirrors because they sense what is going on in us and show it to us. “
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