Dog vs. Snowman

Some cool Dog images:

Dog vs. Snowman

Image by ohad*
A dog leaves his mark on a snowman in Rock Creek Park (Washington, DC).

Dogs and their owners

Image by Simon Blackley
Yes, there is scientific evidence that dogs resemble their owners. In 2004, researchers Michael M. Roy and Nicholas J.S. Christenfeld of the University of California, San Diego, reported in the periodical Psychological Science:
"We examined whether the frequent casual reports of people resembling their pets are accurate by having observers attempt to match dogs with their owners. We further explored whether any ability of observers to make such matches is due to people selecting dogs who resemble them, in which case the resemblance should be greater for predictable purebreds than for nonpurebreds, or is due to convergence, in which case the resemblance should grow with duration of ownership. Forty-five dogs and their owners were photographed separately, and judges were shown one owner, that owner’s dog, and one other dog, with the task of picking out the true match. The results were consistent with a selection account: Observers were able to match only purebred dogs with their owners, and there was no relation between the ability to pair a person with his or her pet and the time they had cohabited. The ability to match people and pets did not seem to rely on any simple trait matching (e.g., size or hairiness). The results suggest that when people pick a pet, they seek one that, at some level, resembles them, and when they get a purebred, they get what they want." [my italics]

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Messenger dog base just behind the line

Image by National Library of Scotland
Messenger dogs on parade outside their kennels, in France, during World War I. Messenger dogs and their handlers stand beside some kennels close to the front line. Rolled up messages placed inside waterproof containers would have been attached to the collars of these dogs, as they moved between units in the front line trenches. Adopting a pet as regimental mascot also helped to maintain the morale of the soldiers, by adding a touch of domestic home life to the trench where the dog was stationed.

It was the famous Battersea Dogs’ Home in London that provided the army with recruits for its unit of messenger dogs. Following their recruitment, the dogs were then trained at The War Dog Training School in Shoeburyness, England. Once their training was finished, the dogs were stationed in kennels in Etaples, France, before being posted to regiments for front line service.

[Original reads: ‘OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE. A messenger dog base just behind the line.’]

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