Love Me, Love My Dog!

How we all love those photo features in magazines that picture people who strongly resemble their own dogs.  Even better, we love a contest version where we can go get our camera and find our blonde friend who looks exactly like her own Golden Retriever. 

Admit it, you have at least one friend who looks just like his or her canine companion.  Many a dog show will reveal about five or six women gathered around the Irish Setter ring with hair dyed to match their dogs, or Afghan people who should have long since gone totally gray, now sporting jet-black or platinum blonde locks.

Who can forget the famous photo of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and an English Bulldog?  For some people, it was difficult to tell the two apart!   Both had jowly cheeks, a wide mouth and numerous skin folds.  Many a political counterpart would even claim Churchill's  personality mimicked a bulldog's as he helped guide Britain through the bleakest years of World War II. 

It's not such a far stretch to figure out that we like things that are similar to us.  Psychologists point to the world of computer dating.  We search for someone who likes the same things we do; things like hobbies, sports, political beliefs and music to name a few.  It's all about finding someone who will fit into our lives and allow us to continue to do the things we love. 

We tend to select dogs the same way, based on how similar that breed's personality is to our own.  Is it overstretching to say we strive to look like them as well?  There are not too many people out there who consciously wander into the beauty parlor and ask their hair to be dyed to match their dog's, but somehow, they end up coming out with the same hue.  Perhaps it's the same sentiment that inspired this popular prose that circles the internet endlessly: 

If you can start the day without caffeine;
If you can get going without pep pills;
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains;
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles;
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it;
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time;
If you can forgive a friend's lack of consideration;
If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when,
through no fault of your own, something goes wrong;
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment;
If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him;
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend;
If you can face the world without lies and deceit;
If you can conquer tension without medical help;
If you can relax without liquor;
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs;
If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice  against creed or color, religion or politics; then, my friend, you are  almost as good as your dog.

Reading that, who wouldn't want to look just like their dog?

Incidentally, Winston Churchill did not own that bulldog.  He owned a miniature poodle named Rufus, a dog that looked nothing like his master at all.  But since the British think of the bulldog as a symbol of their country, someone must have decided that a photo opportunity with the wrinkly canine would be good public relations and an inspiration to the country in troubled times.  It looks like it was a good instinct.

Take a look at this gallery of owners who look like their dogs!

http://www.tanmonkey.com/fun/dog-looks-like-owner.php