Do you know any idiom in your culture which expresses the same or similar meaning as It's the way the mouse walks that decides the way the cat walks?

In China, this idiom means to the effect that the behaviours of a creature dependend on the beheaviours of another creature which is directly related to it,and somtimes the change of the behaviours of a creature appears very strange,resulting from the unusual change of the creature that plays a great role in its life.