Dogs and their humans have developed bonds so strong that it’s no wonder they start to resemble each other. The similarities often exist in subtle yet undeniable ways—be it through flowing locks, soulful expressions, or a silly grin. Photographer Gerrard Gethings highlights these “doggelgängers” in his charming collection of colorful portraits.
The idea that a bonded dog and human share a resemblance has been put to scientific tests. Michael Roy, a psychologist at the University of California, San Diego, was one of the first to examine this theory. He did so by going to three dog parks, snapping pictures of the pups and their owners separately, and then asking groups of participants to match them.
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Roy found that study participants were able to suss out the pairings with “reasonable accuracy.” This result and these types of investigations have since been repeated many times. In a test run by Sadahiko Nakajima from Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan, he found that 80% of participants could correctly pick the dog/owner pairs.
Now, you can try your own version of this study—sort of. Gethings’ striking photographs are part of a memory card game aptly called Do You Look Like Your Dog? Featuring 50 cards, it challenges you to match 25 people with their furry friends all while enjoying Gethings’ fun photography. The boxed game was released through Laurence King Publishing and is available on Amazon.
Photographer Gerrard Gethings snapped striking portraits for the memory card game Do You Look Like Your Dog? available now.
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