Member-only story
Does Your Dog Have Personality? You Betcha!
Dog behavior has been shaped by millennia of contact with humans. So it shouldn’t surprise us that they have personality traits similar but not identical to our own.
I was having coffee with a friend a while back and somehow the conversation wandered into how smart our dogs are. Like proud parents, we regaled each other with stories about our respective dogs’ personalities. I asked, rhetorically, whether dogs really have a personality. Like most dog owners, we confidently answered was “Of course!”
But the easy answer bothered me. The fact that millions of dog owners believe it to be a fact doesn’t make it so. Strictly speaking, that simply makes it millions of anecdotes. And anecdotes, however numerous, do not constitute proof. At best it amounts to a bunch of observations by loving owners, and thus, it is inherently highly biased.
What is personality?
Psychologists who study this subject describe five components that together make up a personality.
Openness to experience includes several dimensions. These include characteristics such as
- active imagination (fantasy)
- aesthetic sensitivity
- attentiveness to inner feelings
