Like owner like dog

Once, when my son and I were walking our jolly puppy, we found ourselves behind another dog walker whose terrier was seized by aggressive fury. It was snarling and snapping at us.

The terrier's owner turned and half snarled herself: ‘Will you keep your dog under control!’ (Our puppy, incidentally, was walking along with us quite happily). As we overtook the unhappy duo — terrier and owner — I just couldn't resist the opportunity of saying to my son slightly louder than needed: ‘Well, Luke, you know what they say. Like owner like dog’.

Who better than a veterinary nurse to know just how much like an owner a pet can be? Owners and pets resembling each other physically is an old chestnut and can be easily explained — people, somewhat narcissistically, often choose pets that look like them. But what about behaviour? Do suspicious, withdrawn people end up with nervy, unsociable dogs while incurably sociable optimists with invasively friendly dogs? And if so how on earth does this come to be?