The idea that people and their dogs start to look alike has always been funny to me, in part because I could kinda see it.
But I wouldn’t say that me and my mutt Ice look too much alike.
I would say, however, that we behave quite similarly:
1) We both run around the house like a couple of kids.
Ice will hurdle over my boyfriend’s dog Dexter to come say hi when I wake up in the morning, and will hurdle back over him to run to her food bowl and then to run to the door and then to run to chase the fly in the kitchen. She makes a racket first thing in the morning because she runs everywhere. The only time she actually just walks around the house is when she’s straight exhausted.
But I realize I’m the same way. When I get up from a TV show to go the bathroom, I scurry toward the toilet (usually with Ice running shortly behind me). When I realize I left something in the other room, I quickly jog over to grab it. Even at school, I’m always sprinting to and from the copy room.
It’s not that either of us are particularly great runners. We both start panting and are ready to quit after about a mile of sustained running. But in the house? We’re both making a racket, scampering all around the place, like a pair of rowdy elementary schoolers.
2) We drop our stuff all over the house.
We play with one thing, then get distracted, and drop our toy right there on the floor.
With Ice, she’ll try to bring her ball with her on a walk and just drop it on the porch or in the front yard. Old bones and ropes just get left laying around the second she finds a new distraction. At the dog park, she’ll be in the middle of a fierce bout of tug of war, but if anyone else throws a ball, she’ll drop the rope to run for it.
With me, it’s the coffee cups I leave in the bathroom, the yoga mat on the living room floor, the books I picked up and put down because I got distracted before even starting, the half-done crafts on the coffee table, the clothes that landed on the floor wherever I took them off.
I’ve gotten better about going around the house picking all of our shit up a couple times a day, but the amount of shit we both leave everywhere hasn’t changed a bit.
3) We both get super nosy when anyone around us is on their phone.
I’m liable to ask “Who ya talking to?” or “Whatcha doing over there?” to whomever is on their phone when we’re hanging out. It’s not that I’m offended that they’re on their phone. I’m just nosy as all hell and want to know what’s going on.
Ice, meanwhile, will quite literally shove her nose between you and the phone. She does NOT understand why on earth anyone would pay attention to that small little box when she’s right there for the petting.
4) We're snuggle addicts.
We love snuggles. We’ll squirm our way into snuggles even when you want your space. Neither of us is usually very good at holding still, you can best believe we’ll just lay there happily without moving an inch when it’s time for a good snuggly nap.
She’s the type of dog who always wants to lay right in the middle of two people on the couch or the bed so that she can greedily steal all the snuggles. I’m that type of human, too, though, so we’re always fighting over the middle spot.
5) We both have a bad case of FOMO.
For those of you who don’t know, FOMO is the fear of missing out. For me, this means I spent years not sleeping enough just so I could do all the cool things I wanted to do. It still means that I’m usually the last one in the house to go to sleep and like to be the first awake. It also means I’m nosy and want to know the latest on my friends or work drama.
For Ice, though, it’s more extreme. If my boyfriend’s dog Dexter takes a drink of water, Ice wants a drink of water. If there’s a noise in the other room, Ice is running to it. If anyone else in the house is awake, Ice is awake. As soon as she's inside, she wants back outside, and vice versa. She could be getting a tummy rub, but if she sees Dexter playing with her rope, she’ll be grabbing for it too in no time.
For me, FOMO has calmed down as I’ve become less anxious and felt more secure in my relationships. Hopefully my little rescue pup will have the same experience. Because otherwise Dexter is never going to have a moment’s peace again!
