Dogs of pwhoar: a bona fido way to get the girls

Men seem to be well aware of the pet-related weakness in the opposite sex. Photo / Getty Images

Attention dog-loving singles! A new study has confirmed what so many dog park visits, "yappy hours" and gimmicky Instagram accounts have already made so obvious: Your furry friend can help get you ... happy.

But there is, of course, a caveat: Using Fido as date-bait is far more effective if you are a single guy.

The study, titled The Roles of Pet Dogs and Cats in Human Courtship and Dating, and published in the research journal Anthrozoos, surveyed random users of the dating website Match.com in the United States who included pet info in their profiles.

Of the 1210 people who responded, 61 per cent were women - and dogs and cats were by far the most common pets listed.

The study's researchers theorised that "women will place more value on how a potential mate interacts with their pet than will single men" - and the results proved them right: The ladies were more than twice as likely to say they were attracted to someone because he had a pet, and also about twice as likely to judge their date based on how they reacted to a furry companion.

(Sorry, cat-lovers. Dogs are more commonly used as social barometers in the dating scene - about 32 per cent of the 20-something women surveyed said a guy with a feline friend was a potential deal-breaker.)

So why are women more likely to swoon over a partner with a dog?

"Put in terms of evolutionary and life history theory, females allocate a higher proportion of their reproductive effort to parenting while males expend more energy on mating," the researchers said.

Basically: Women are more likely to want a guy who seems like he would be a responsible, caring parent; guys are more likely to want a girl who would look good in a bikini.

The study (which has notable limitations - the sample comes exclusively from the online dating pool, and includes only heterosexual, gender-normative people) pointed out that because pets are treated like family, their role as a stand-in for potential children is significant.

Men are on to this, too. Guys were more than twice as likely to admit that they've used a pet to lure a potential date, the study said - and dogs were used far more than cats.

But the romantic perks of dog ownership don't necessarily extend to women. Deborah Ben-Moshe, a single District of Columbia resident and proud owner of Georgie, a 3-year-old mixed-breed pup, told me she's hopelessly charmed by guys who are into her dog.

She still remembers the man who wrote to her: "I can't decide who is cuter, you or your dog" - but she more often encounters guys who seem a bit daunted by a woman who has committed to pet ownership.

"Women see a guy with a dog, and they see a guy who is responsible and wants to settle down, and that's really endearing," she says.

"But for women with a dog, I think guys may see that and feel like, holy crap, this girl is ready to have babies and settle down ... And I think that might be scary for them."

Online dating coach Erika Ettin, author of Love at First Site: Tips and Tales for Online Dating Success from a Modern-Day Matchmaker, notes that her dog, Scruffy, has often revealed certain traits in would-be partners.

"I've learned that owning a dog tells me if you're a germophobe, it tells me if you're high-strung," she says.

"If you sit on my couch, you'll probably get some dog hairs on you. And I don't necessarily want to be with someone who is that uptight about a few dog hairs."

And when it comes to dating, there is at least one perk of dog ownership that works for men and women: "I've used Georgie as an excuse to get out of a bad date," Ben-Moshe says. "So, that's a positive!"