59 People Share Pics Of Themselves And Their Pets And They're Just Too Similar

There have been at least four studies performed in different countries that find that when people are given a picture of an owner and pictures of a few dogs, they tend to pick the correct dog.

“It is not clear exactly why they are able to match, but it seems like it might be due to personality,” Michael Roy, an author of one of these studies and a psychology professor at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, tells Bored Panda.

“People are only able match owners and dogs together when the dogs are purebreds. People tend to know the personality and activity level of purebred dogs - they match friendly looking people with friendly looking dogs (labradors) and unfriendly looking people with unfriendly looking dogs (pit bulls),” he adds.

One explanation why some pets look like their owners is the “mere exposure effect,” a psychological quirk where we tend to favor things that feel familiar.

“People like others that are similar to them — the same goes for dogs,” says Roy.

Since you see your own face almost every day in the mirror, it makes sense that creatures who resemble that face might feel comforting — almost like muscle memory for your eyeballs.

Even matching hairstyles, the same eye color, or a similar jawline might make you gravitate more toward a pet that looks like you.

“There’s lots of ways that something can begin to feel familiar to you, one of which is you might have had a dog just like that as a kid. But another thing that could make something feel familiar is that it resembles something that you’ve encountered before – like, say, yourself,” says Art Markman, a cognitive scientist at the University of Texas at Austin.

Another study found that the eyes play the biggest role in whether or not we notice that a dog looks like its owner.

In one of their experiments, people were shown photos of dogs and their owners and asked to match the real pairs. When the full faces were visible, most got it right, and even covering the mouths didn’t slow them down much.

But cover the eyes of either the dog or the human, and suddenly guessing correctly dropped to about 50%.

And if you show just the eyes, people can still make the match most of the time.

Dr Borbála Turcsán, who studies dog behavior at ELTE Faculty of Science in Budapest, Hungary, tells Bored Panda that people tend to prefer and actively choose partners who are similar to themselves in a number of characteristics.

"This preference may extend to both physical appearance and behavioral traits when selecting a dog."

She adds: "Morphological differences between humans and dogs allow only limited similarity in physical appearance, whereas there is much greater potential for overlap in general characteristics such as friendliness, sociability, or energy level."

She believes that both dogs and owners adjust their behavior to one another.

"However, these mutual adjustments likely occur very early in the relationship rather than gradually increasing similarity over many years," she says.

In a study, researchers found that women with long hair tended to prefer dogs with similarly long ears, and women with short hairstyles preferred prick-eared dogs.

It’s kind of like how you might unconsciously pick clothes that match your vibe without realizing it.

There’s even pet look‑alike contests that’ve been around for decades. In Tokyo, there was a pet-human resemblance competition as early as 2002, where owners and their animals lined up for judges to pick the best match.

In the US, canine look‑alike challenges still pop up at pet expos and fairs, complete with prizes and public voting.

It’s not just about looks. A recent review of 15 scientific studies shows we can share personality traits with our dogs too.

Things like how outgoing or chill you are might mirror how your dog behaves, and these similarities sometimes deepen the longer you’re together.

One idea is that people might just pick dogs that are a lot like them from the start.

Another thought is that dogs and their owners influence each other over time. They calm each other down, copy each other’s habits, or pick up traits by watching and learning from one another.

Cats might be trickier to match by appearance, but recent research suggests cats and their humans also influence each other’s behavior and well-being.

People who describe themselves as calm or a bit aloof often find that their cats reflect that same energy back.

Just like kids can pick up traits from their parents, cats seem to pick up on their humans’ personalities too.

“Many owners consider their pets as a family member, forming close social bonds with them. It's therefore no wonder our pets could be affected by the way we interact with and manage them, and that both these factors are in turn influenced by our personality differences,” says feline expert Dr Lauren Finka.

“I suppose there’s a feline quality some people can have, but not in the same way. They don’t have huge beards, or things dogs have, like a center parting and long hair — easy matches. Cats are more difficult,” he adds.

There’s emerging research looking at how horses and humans sync up biologically and behaviorally.

But horses have often been described as “emotional sponges” — they soak up and reflect how a human feels.

If you walk up to a horse while anxious or tense, it may become stressed as well.

They can also sense fear through subtle body language, vocal cues, and even changes in your scent or pheromones.

These animals, among others, don’t just share your home. They share your life, your moods and act like a mirror to your emotions.