Do Dog & Cat Owners Have the Same Personality?

By Kilani Monterroso '21

Many people treat their pets as their kid. We have all seen it and probably done it. I am one of those people.

My dog reflects my personality, and she has always read my mind. For example, I will go to a store and I don’t even think about bringing her along with me and she’s lying in her bed. But the second I think about taking her with me she gets up and is ready to head out the door. All of this leads to one question: do pets reflect their owner?

In the Disney movie 101 Dalmatians, Pongo starts to look for a partner for his owner and himself. Later on, Pongo starts to notice that the dogs reflect their owners mentally and physically, and it’s interesting because I have seen that on the streets myself. (The video of this scene will be at the bottom of this article). Scientists have learned that dogs and cats can sense what type of person we are. They can sense if we are good or bad and what type of emotions we are feeling, such as fear, nervousness, anger, and happiness. Dogs can also help humans detect what is wrong with our bodies. Many dogs have sensed cancer, seizures, migraines, anxiety, depression, pregnancy, stress, changes in blood sugar levels, heart attacks, and much more. Cats have been beneficial for autistic children because they help them calm down. Both dogs and cats can sense if their owner doesn’t like something or someone. For example, if someone doesn’t like another person, a dog is more likely to growl or ignore the person and a cat can do the same thing by hissing, biting, or scratching.

I recently sent out a survey asking students if they own a dog or cat personally. What I mean by the word "personally" is whether the student chose the pet, named the pet, does everything with the pet, etc. 64 students responded. Out of those 64 students, 51 students said they owned a dog and 13 students said they owned a cat. I then sent a personality survey those who responded to me; 6 cat owners and 24 dog owners responded. I went through each survey and took notes. I noticed that dogs have more similar personalities and characteristics to their owner than cats do.

Cat owners are usually people who are quiet, shy, and more reserved while dog owners are typically more extroverted, outgoing, and playful. Both cats and dogs are mammals, just like humans, so that means that when we get emotional that feeling is transferred to our dog or cat.

All About Dogs & Their Owners

A study in Austria showed that connections between dogs and humans are stronger now than in the past. Humans have influenced dogs more than dogs influence humans. Humans have had dogs as their companion for more than 30,000 years, so we have shared similar characteristics in DNA. If the owner is more outgoing, energetic, and curious, the dog will be more outgoing and energetic. If the owner is battling something in life and it makes them depressed, the dog will have depression-like symptoms by displaying little energy. Dogs are also able to tell what you are saying to them. This is because as humans, when we are feeling a certain expression and talk at the same time, our voice changes. For example, when we are mad we have more of a persistent and strong voice. When people are happy they have a perky and joyful voice. Dogs have two hemispheres in their brain. The left hemisphere can respond to the words that the owner is saying and the right hemisphere can respond to the tone of the owner's voice. That is why when people in a household are arguing dogs will tend to move away and hide; they sense the tone of voice and notice there is a problem within the house.

Dogs and their owners have shared the personalities of being aggressive, confident, outgoing, adaptable, insecure, independent, playful, curious, fearless, laid-back, happy, hardworking, obedient, intelligent, gentle, faithful, energetic, easy to get along with, conscientious, extroverted, and agreeable.

On average, each dog owner chose at least 9 personality traits of themselves and 6 personality traits of their dogs. From the 24 dogs owners I noticed that they shared at least 6 personality traits with their dogs. Because of that, I can say that dogs reflect their owners.

All About Cats & Their Owners

BBC reported that cats can see how their owner is feeling. This means that cats can see the owner's facial expressions and know how to react it. If the human has a facial expression of sadness then the cat will perform less positive behavior. If the human has a facial expression of happiness then the cat will perform more positive behaviors. When cat owners are stressed out, their cats can detect that and become stressed out themselves.

Cats and their owners have shared the personalities of being insecure, anxious, fearful of people or animals, suspicious, shy, dominance, aggressive, reckless, affectionate, friendliness, gentle, vigilant, inquisitive, inventive, smart, quiet, curious, unconventional, prone to worrying, open, and neurotic.

On average, each cat owner chose at least 6 personality traits of themselves and 5 personality traits of their cats. 4 cat owners said they only shared 1 personality trait with their cat and 2 cat owners said they shared 4-7 personality traits with their cat. From those 6 people I noticed that cats and their owners are different from each other. They may only share 1 personality trait and this shows that cats can be more independent and have not evolved as much with humans over the years.


☘️ My dog would like to say Happy St. Patrick's Day! ☘️

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