Aggressive people choose aggressive dogs: Study

Picture taken Jan. 10 2008 shows a rottweiler named Sultan in a cage at the animal protection shelter (SPA) of Brignais, France. The dog mortally bit two-year old Romaric, the son of his owners. / FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images

(CBS News) Another study shows how dogs reveal a whole lot about their owners.

Psychologists at the Queen's University of Belfast found that people tend to get dogs with similar personalities: those with hostile personality traits will get aggressive dogs, while more laid-back individuals will have docile pets.

"This might imply (although has yet to be proven) that people choose pets that are an extension of themselves," said Deborah Wells, one of the psychologists who conducted the study, said in an e-mail to LiveScience.

Wells and her partner, Peter Hepper, surveyed 147 dog owners from Northern Ireland obedience classes, according to LiveScience.

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The study took a look at owners of German shepherds, Rottweilers, Labrador retrievers and golden retrievers.

German shepherds and Rottweilers are more aggressive dogs than labs and golden retrievers. Owners of the former two scored higher in psychoticism, a personality trait of aggressiveness.

This is not the first study to show that opposites don't attract as far as man's best friend is concerned. A U.K. research paper from April found that owners of toy dogs score higher on "openness," a personality trait that measures how intellectually curious and open to new experiences someone is, LiveScience reported. Owners of friendly dogs, like labs, were particularly easy to get along with.

Scientific research has also proven the popularly-held belief that people choose dogs that resemble themselves. A 2004 San Diego study showed that participants were usually able to easily match pictures of dogs with those of their owners, based on appearance (but only if the dogs were purebreds).

[dreamsofsomeday]

Yet another astounding article done by the media.
Neither of those breeds are aggressive. Have these people ever been around German Shepherds or Rottweilers?

[honest_pols]

It's the way one trains and treats his/her dog that is probably the overall, or even the number one factor, regarding how aggressive or gentle that dog will be.

[Void-Master]

I have cats. But then, you don't own cats. You make friends with them.

[AnnieDanny]

Cat people are the best. :)

[josephp5]

I would like to get in touch with whomever funded this study. Perhaps they will give me some money to study whether water is wet.

[jumkey]

It really depends on what is meant by "aggressive". German Shepherds and Rottweilers aren't particularly aggressive dogs, at least as measured by the number of attacks on family members, which is a good way of judging aggressiveness specific to a breed as opposed to dogs who are often trained to be aggressive (like Pitbulls for example), and the most aggressive dogs based on this criteria were Dachshunds.

[barton66]

Aggression is a behavior instilled in dogs by humans, by abuse or neglect. It comes from dogs as a response to fear of that repeated abuse. Pit Bulls have genetic advantages to other dogs in fighting or destructive capability due to jaw strength and muscle build. People choose to instill aggression in more Pit Bulls than other dogs. Aggressive people instill aggression in their dogs because they are aggressive people.

[dprice123-2009]

No kidding......

[norulers]

People from Hell choose Hell hounds as companions. Why should that surprise anyone?

[skeezix06]

I haven't owned one but I've know German Shepherds that were very laid back. The only dogs that I've felt threatened by were one black lab, the dachshund that came charging down the driveway every day on my way to grade school and my grandmother's chihuahua.

My experience has been that, overall, the small dogs (toy and terrier) are more nervous and/or hyper and more likely to snap or bite. Herding breeds can also be hyper. Hunting breeds and sporting breeds want to run off and hunt too much. Non-sporting and large working breed dogs tend to be the most easy going and laid back.

[skeezix06]

Hogwash.

[micmac666]

Pet ownership is for losers, but who wouldn't enjoy handling those steamers?

[micmac666]

newster-
'Same trophy mentality, different smell/taste.