"Mirror of the soul"

What your dog reveals about your personality

Dogs know and mirror their owners.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/HBS)

Dogs are true masters at recognizing and mirroring our emotions. Not only intuitively, but they also read our facial expressions, our tone of voice and our body language and adapt their behavior accordingly. 

Herbert is a grumpy loner who doesn't necessarily seek out the company of other people. All that matters to him is his dog Dino. He is a perfect match for his master. He avoids walkers or barks at them and doesn't want to have anything to do with his own kind. All that matters is his master. 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 shrieks, she constantly runs from one place to another and never calms down. Hysterical mistress - 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
The Viennese behavioural scientist Prof. Dr. 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. "Several studies have shown that people can infect their dogs emotionally. This probably happens through the mediation of mirror neurons."

Several studies have shown that people can emotionally infect their dogs. This is probably mediated by mirror neurons.

Univ. Prof. Dr. Kurt Kotrschal, Verhaltensforscher

Bild: Klemens Groh, krone.at-Grafik

The 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, he immediately senses this restlessness and reacts to it. He either withdraws from his owner or develops similar behavior."

Whether it's hecticness, anxiety, aggression or insecurity: We humans demonstrably burden our four-legged companions with our own problems. While a sad mistress is usually comforted by her dog and a happy, balanced and self-confident owner conveys a good mood, calmness and security to the four-legged friend, tensions, stress and problems are transferred to the animal.

These two teenagers are on the same wavelength.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Maria Moroz)

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

The dog owner only notices the "bad behavior" of their pet and tries to change the disruptive behavior with the help of a trainer. "But the dog merely reflects 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. But we also benefit from our "mirror image". This allows us to recognize our own unresolved problems and tackle them.

Insecurity at both ends of the leash
A common example of such "problem behavior" is an anxious dog. Bettina Almberger repeatedly observes how a mentally healthy dog can become an insecure four-legged friend over time because it adopts the owner's fears. For example, the fear of an insecure owner of a confrontation between his pet and a superior, large "aggressive" dog. The dog senses the muscle tension and nervousness of its owner when encountering such a feared conspecific; the owner may then try to calm himself down by petting the dog.

Dogs "mirror" the nature of their owner.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

The animal must therefore assume that danger is imminent. It will either react aggressively to this perceived danger or become afraid of large dogs. Just like the owner. In this way, humans and dogs reinforce each other's fears and end up in a vicious circle. Sometimes dogs do not mirror their human's problems 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 is not living out his freedom.

A demanding dog, on the other hand, reflects a compliant person. 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 clearly express these boundaries themselves: through constant barking, excessive territorial guarding, etc.

"Psychoanalysts" on four paws
Animals of unstable people particularly seek to be close to their owners. Either out of their own insecurity or because they take on responsibility in pairs and are there for their human partner. For example, a study at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna led by Prof. Kotrschal shows how the human personality structure affects the physical closeness between humans and dogs. "The less emotionally stable the study participants were, the more they regarded their dog as a supporter and the longer the dog stayed close to the owner in the test situation," reports the behavioral researcher.

The less emotionally stable the study participants were, the more they regarded their dog as a supporter and the longer the dog stayed close to the owner in the test situation

Univ. Prof. Dr. Kurt Kotrschal, Verhaltensforscher

Bild: Klemens Groh, krone.at-Grafik

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

The four-legged friends are helpful in recognizing the true side of us.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Krakenimages.com)

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