Dogs really do look and act just like their owners

The resemblance increases over time.

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For all the talk of dogs and humans being best friends, sometimes representatives of the two species just don't click. Giving up an unsuitable family pet can be heartbreaking, but, if the animal is an expensive working dog, it can also be financially ruinous. Guide dogs, for example, can cost up to US$50,000 (S$65,000) to train, but about a third are returned because they don't bond with their allocated owner.

To cut down on the number of mismatches, researchers in Germany are trying to develop more harmonious pooch-person relationships. Their work towards that goal has now confirmed what many dog owners already suspect, and what some may be reluctant to admit: dogs really do look like their humans. More relevant to the quest for lasting friendships, they have similar personalities, too.

"We are interested in understanding what makes a good dog-owner match and to find out how we can find the right dog for a person," says Ms Yana Bender, a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena, Germany. "To do that, we first need to establish the status quo: are dogs and their owners generally more similar or more different?"