It’s been said that pet owners often own a dog that resembles themselves, appearance wise. They are also accused of making connections that may or may not exist (he just knows when I’m… [insert whatever emotion here]. There is science that supports the notion that owners frequently choose a dog that looks like themselves. Not sure I buy that whole dark eyes similarity thing but think there are other physical traits that probably underscore the decision.
Sure there are examples everywhere of owners having dogs that look just like them. The tough looking sergeant who has a Bulldog, the thin-faced librarian with long straight hair who owns an Afghan Hound. I first became familiar with Standard Poodles back in the 70’s, after puppy-sitting a beautiful Standard with thick silver hair over a weekend. We earnestly began searching for a breeder and found our first pup shortly thereafter. Her hair was black and we were told that odds were extremely good that she would turn silver as the hair between the pads was silver-the first sign that the overall color may change. Like Dalmatians who are born without spots, silver Standards are born solid black and turn in the first few months. Mandy, as the kids named her, never did turn silver-colored, she stayed a beautiful, shiny black pup adored by her family. Back then my hair was semi-long and Mandy’s more often than not was also on the long side. We did sorta look-alike if you didn’t take into account her hair was black and mine was a blonde version of Little Orphan Annie. But the curls were similar enough and more than one person mentioned it to me. I pooh-poohed the idea but it did make me pause and wonder…do owners really look like their pets? Over the years, I’ve owned 5 different Standard Poodles. All were exceptionally fine-looking, curly haired specimens with Einstein-like smarts. Then I got Sam. Since I tend to think of myself as somewhat clever, even sweet, it seemed the similarities were now taking different paths.
It’s been noted more than once that while Sam is super sweet, he’s either stupid or extremely stubborn (the trainer said there’s a fine line between the two and thought Sam was more stubborn than dumb). Our hair coloring was fairly similar before Mother Nature decided to go south and turn silver (maybe I’m taking after Mandy now after all these years). And I have been accused of being somewhat stubborn in the past and came to the conclusion that Sam and I share that trait as well as the curls. Since returning from our California trip a few days ago, I’ve especially noticed he decided that rules are merely suggestions and therefore should be summarily ignored. Listening to the Alpha B*tch isn’t particularly necessary or welcomed. Today I took Sam with me to the Post Office to mail off a couple of packages. In the past, he would follow fairly close, sit net to me when I stop and wait for the next command. Today however, he pulled like a stevedore and could not be dissuaded from zeroing in like a laser on one particular young pregnant woman standing in line ahead of us. His look was not like anything I’d ever seen before, quite obsessive and I had to put him into a downward stay position after he tried on 3 separate occasions to lunge toward her, not in a threatening manner mind you, but more in the manner of “Hey, I want to be over THERE and you’re not going to stop me!” sort of way.” WTH??!! It was then that I realized we both are fairly stubborn. I’m steadfast in my beliefs (being recently reminded of having an irrational position of a pre-disposed opinion formulated with no benefit of any experience to the contrary). I don’t know why I do that, call it intuition, but the reminder kept gnawing at me all day long. Sam may well need to go for a refresher course on proper manners especially since we’ll be starting up our hospital therapy work soon. Oh sure, he’s still as sweet as pie, but this pulling and other naughty, stubborn behavior won’t be tolerated at the hospital no matter how cute or sweet you are. But do you think there’s a training class for uprights to un-train the stubbornness out of me?
So for now I ask, ‘mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s more stubborn than them all…him or me?’ But we’re both mostly sweet so maybe there’s hope. 😉
Live, love, bark! <3
I had such a good laugh after reading this post. Your posts and narration are superlative.
Aw, Nimi…such high praise coming from you. Thank you! ღ
Ottie and I have similar eyes, I suppose. But I don’t have a squished nose! Both on the thin side…
Also we cats are a mirror image of our peeps 😀 Lovely subject! Pawkisses 🙂 <3
Interesting…never thought about similarities between cats and their “pawrents”
aaww what a beautiful picture of you two together. I think you are right about parents looking like their kids. Mom kind of favors me too… well she did before this weekend – snorts. XOXO – Bacon
Thanks, Bacon! It’s always fascinating to me to see similarities between our fur-kids and ourselves. BTW, you and Mom could do worse. 😉 Keep smiling-we love that about you…well that and the fact that both of you both keep US smiling! ღ
aaww you do the same for us my sweet friends!! Love you! XOXO – Bacon
You betcha we would! ღ
Well, aside from the long snout, there is a slight resemblance. But I never really thought about it. Mostly because I’ve never resembled any of my dogs. But the poodles I grew up with were all super-smart; and even though Dad called my poodle “Dummy”, she was smart enough to know how to wrangle whatever she wanted out of him. And she was sweet as sugar candy.
😉 Those spoos are master manipulators!
Happy Valentine’s day!!!!! Love to you both!
Marty and the Gang
I often laugh at the fact that Dakota and my husband look alike and Cody and I look alike 🙂
DakotasDen
Just like upright families! 😉
Awww…love this picture of Sam and his mom! Sam’s looking very content :o)
Of course he’s content…he ALWAYS gets his way! BOL 😉
One lucky dog!
Sam must be taking lessons from terriers.
No kidding…that dog!
A friend has just asked those of us on Facebook to change our profile picture to that of one of our pets as part of a campaign against cruelty to animals….having put up a pic of Bunter I am now going to have to look in the mirror and check our degree of likeness……
In my case, I couldn’t have done worse. 😉
all of that sounds familiar. I just wonder what he needed to give to the pregnant woman. I think I might have asked her if she was feeling okay because Sam is a healing dog. As Cole aged he got more pushy, less obedient. Like he said “I’m a grown man and I don’t like being told what to do” LEeAnna
He didn’t have that kind of body language toward her so I don’t think his focus was that bu with that dimwit, who knows? 😉
Sweetness trumps all naughty behavior, S. Stick with your strengths. Sometimes Mom calls me the word, “She’s got her moments…” when I am naughty. ….don’t we all…?
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Hahaha…oh Cupcake, you make me smile. 🙂
Monika, had a good laugh throughout your post, mostly at poor Sam’s expense. We tend to think that Lady is not the brightest. Actually, next to Bilbo it looks like there’s just a hollow cavity between the ears. However, I have been wondering whether she is quite that daft or whether she’s just willful and likes doing her own thing. She lived on a farm before she came here and had a lot more freedom to just roam off with her dog family. She was pretty poorly trained and used to jump up on to the kitchen table and steal food. That ended very abruptly!
I also wonder whether she’s always been down the pack order and hasn’t had to make her own decisions and think too much for herself.
Hope you are having a great weekend and a Happy Valentine’s Day. I wrote this today which you might enjoy: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2016/02/13/shooting-cupid/
We’ll be spending Valentine’s driving the kids around…not so romantic!
xx Ro
Daft…that perfectly describes Sam! His first family allowed (in fact encouraged) jumping up which has been a long standing issue with me. At some point I’ll end up going head over teakettle and with my record of falls, will snap something like a broken twig! 😉
you two are fabulous, there is no doubt :o) I think sometimes Easy could be my twin… I always look in our big mirror before I leave the house to make sure I look like a normal human. Easy does that too now, he even walk back to look if every hair of his fur is on the right place :o)
We are funny, aren’t we. Easy is fabulous and definitely knows how to strut his stuff! Happy weekend. 😉