Cat People vs. Dog People

There seems to be a friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) competition between people who own cats and people who own dogs - so this article in Modern Dog magazine caught my attention.

Now just for the sake of full disclosure, I have been adopted by five cats (those of you who have cats will understand what I mean by that statement). But I have also owned many dogs throughout my life, so I guess you could say that I have a foot in both camps.

A survey done by the University of Texas at Austin showed that dog people - based on how people identified themselves, not by the animal they actually own - tend to be to be more social and outgoing, whereas cat people tend to be more neurotic but open (meaning creative, philosophical or nontraditional). 

Dog people scored significantly higher on extroversion, agreeableness and contentiousness, and this effect persisted regardless of gender of the respondent.

According to the Chinese Zodiac,  I was born in the Year of the Dog, and I possess many of the traits associated with a dog person (loyalty, honesty and trustworthiness). But if someone were to ask me if I am a cat person or a dog person (meaning which animal am I more like), I would have to say I am a cat. I am introverted, independent and not especially outgoing.

So I guess I find it somewhat harsh that in the first article a professor of psychology broke off his relationship with the woman he was seeing because she was a cat person and he was a dog person. Can't we all just get along?

And just for the sake of mixing it up even more, I also own a rabbit. I don't know if there have been any studies done regarding the personality of rabbit owners, but I sure would be interested in hearing your opinion.

Cats people vs. dogs people - natural enemies? You tell me.