What your dog reveals about your personality

Herbert is a grumpy loner who doesn't necessarily seek the company of other people. All that matters to him is his dog Dino. He is a perfect match for his owner. He avoids or barks at people walking by and wants nothing to do with other dogs. All that matters is his owner. The situation is similar with Manuela and little Bella. Manuela is extremely hectic, talks almost incessantly, gets upset about everything, and is described as hysterical by less benevolent contemporaries.

And Bella? She barks, she screams, she constantly runs from one place to another and can't settle down. Hysterical owner – hysterical dog? Grumpy owner – grumpy dog? To what extent is the often ridiculed assumption that four-legged friends and their owners resemble each other true?

Transmission through mirror neurons
Viennese behavioral scientist Prof. Kurt Kotrschal confirms that dogs are true masters at recognizing and mirroring our feelings. They read us not only intuitively, but also from our facial expressions, our tone of voice, and our body language. Dogs observe their owners and always react to their behavior. "Studies have repeatedly shown that humans can emotionally infect their dogs. This probably happens through mirror neurons."

Studies have repeatedly shown that humans can emotionally infect their dogs. This probably happens through mirror neurons.

Univ. Prof. Dr. Kurt Kotrschal, Verhaltensforscher

Bild: Ingo Pertramer

German dog trainer and communication consultant (for two-legged friends) Bettina Almberger, who has been working intensively on this topic for years, knows this from her practical experience: "If a rather calm dog comes to a nervous, hectic dog owner, it immediately senses this restlessness and reacts to it. Either it withdraws from its owner or develops similar behavior."

Whether it's hecticness, fears, aggression, or insecurity: we humans demonstrably burden our four-legged companions with our own problems. While a sad owner is usually comforted by their dog, and a cheerful, balanced, and confident owner conveys a good mood, calmness, and security to their four-legged friend, tension, stress, and problems are transferred to the animal.

These two teenagers are on the same wavelength.(Bild: Maria Moroz/stock.adobe.com)

The dog then tries to react in a balancing way: either it compensates with extremely opposite behavior or it adopts the behavior of its owner. In either case, problems arise, which many owners then blame on their animals and punish them for. "However, if the dog is deprived of its ability to balance out the tensions in this way, they build up inside it and sometimes manifest themselves in psychosomatic disorders or organic diseases," says Bettina Almberger.

The dog owner only notices their pet's "bad behavior" and tries to change the disruptive behavior with the help of a trainer. "But the dog is merely reflecting the owner's problems. If people become aware of this and work on themselves, retraining the dog becomes much easier or even unnecessary," says the dog and communication trainer. This means that we also benefit from our "mirror image." It allows us to recognize our own unresolved problems and address them.

Insecurity at both ends of the leash
A common example of such "problem behavior" is a fearful dog. Bettina Almberger repeatedly observes how a mentally healthy dog becomes an insecure four-legged friend over time because it adopts the fears of its owner. For example, an insecure owner's fear of their pet getting into a fight with a larger, "aggressive" dog. When encountering such a feared fellow canine, the dog senses its owner's muscle tension and nervousness; the owner may then try to calm themselves by petting the dog.

Dogs "mirror" the nature of their owners.(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

So the animal must assume that danger is imminent. It will either respond aggressively to this perceived danger or be afraid of large dogs from now on. Just like its owner. In this way, humans and dogs reinforce each other's fears and get caught in a vicious circle. Sometimes dogs reflect their owners' problems not by "copying" them, but by behaving in the opposite way. Freedom-loving dogs that go their own way and run away indicate an owner who does not live out their freedom.

A demanding dog, on the other hand, reflects a permissive human. People with a compulsion to control often have dogs that do not obey at all. It can also be observed time and again that the dogs of people who find it difficult to set boundaries express these boundaries themselves clearly: through constant barking, excessive guarding of their territory, etc.

"Psychoanalysts" on four paws
Animals belonging to unstable people seek out the company of their owners in particular. This is either due to their own insecurity or because they take on responsibility in the pair and are there for their human partner. For example, a study conducted at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna under the direction of Prof. Kotrschal shows how human personality structure affects the physical proximity between humans and dogs. "The less emotional stability the study participants exhibited, the more they viewed their dog as a source of support and the longer the dog stayed close to its owner in the test situation," reports the behavioral scientist.

The less emotional stability the study participants showed, the more they regarded their dog as a supporter and the longer the dog stayed close to its owner in the test situation.

Univ. Prof. Dr. Kurt Kotrschal, Verhaltensforscher

The question "What's wrong with my problem dog?" should therefore always be followed by the question "What's wrong with me? What problems am I struggling with that I may not even be aware of, and which are reflected in my dog?" German animal therapist and trauma expert (for humans) Maike Maja Nowak uses this approach in her work with clients and their dogs. Does someone act tough and dominant to compensate for their insecurity? Is someone overly nice and suppressing their anger in order to live up to their ideal self-image?

Our four-legged friends are helpful in recognizing our true selves.(Bild: Krakenimages.com/stock.adobe.com)

Your dog has the answer. Maike Maja Nowak in her book "Der Hund als Spiegel des Menschen" (The Dog as a Mirror of Man) (Mosaik Verlag): "Dogs can be healing mirrors for a false self-image. They react without the distortion of human politeness and manipulation. They help us to recognize our true selves and can thus make a valuable contribution to overcoming psychological problems."

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