Comparing a person to his dog generally isn’t a compliment.
Yes, there’s the famous loyalty of dogs, their unbridled enthusiasm for life, their boundless love and devotion, their fierce protectiveness — qualities that humans would be lucky to possess at even a modicum of their standard manifestation in the canine.
For all the virtues of Canis domesticus, even dog fanciers don’t usually want to look like a dog. The jowls of a bulldog, the bug eyes of a pug? Such traits are not seen as beautiful in humans.
Still, if we look in the mirror, each of us can expect to find a certain doggy je ne sais quoi staring back. Those who own a dog, anyway.
See Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Family section for more on this curious observation that has had scientists scratching their heads for decades.