Swipe Left If You Don’t Like Dogs

I don’t remember my life without dogs. I grew up with them and now have some of my own. To me, a home without a dog is not a home I’d feel comfortable living in.

So it stands to reason that I fashioned a particular “sniff” test that I use to delineate the romantic suitability of any man who is eager to pursue an exclusive relationship with me. It begins with me inviting him to pick me up prior to our third or fourth date.

My dogs penned in the kitchen so as not to overwhelm my gentleman caller upon him entering my home, I observe how this man reacts to the barking and mania that inevitably ensue. Does he shrink back from my dogs dancing and jumping about in their anticipation of receiving a few pats on the head from him? Or does he move forward towards them, excited to introduce himself? Do his actions towards my pups seem more obligatory or do they indicate that ‘one word from me’ will have him leaping over the gate and landing on the floor to wrestle with my extremely friendly hounds?

Or do my best canine companions growl at him? This is and always will be a really bad sign and a full relationship “stop.”

Truthfully, my “sniff” test has become critical to my relationship choices, as the men who are eager to “leap over the gate and wrestle” are the same men I find myself most attracted to and, ultimately, could envision a life with. That’s just me and my wacky way of ascertaining how this man will approach the rest of what comes with me as well as life overall.

Now maybe that sounds extreme to some of you, but I know myself. The joy I receive from seeing someone who ‘I could love’ love my dogs from the start too…well…you can’t trade this reassurance for the world. Nor can a man manufacture it simply because he wants a relationship with me. I’d sniff his disingenuous intentions out in the shake of a tail.

My dogs — to put it bluntly — are “part of the package.” And I’m certainly not the only dog owner who feels this way. It is the reason that, when I was designing my new ZNEEX app, I made it part of that package too in the form of one very revealing question leading to several others depending upon how you answered initially. Why waste time inviting new friends (or more…especially MORE) on a walks and into your life if your canine buddies will never be their cup of tea? At least know where your precious pups will stand in the onset for comfort-sake. Will it be “between you” or “between you?”

Because if you are the type of person who will be quite frank in voicing the statement, “You’re out before Rufus is,” that’s something that needs to be understood upfront by both of you, rather than found out later by one of you, in all fairness. Same holds true for cats and any other pets, by the way.

As dog owners are their own distinct breed, not all breeds are compatible as we know. Better to sniff this out from the get-go than find yourself leashed to someone who is never going to warm to your four-legged family members despite how much you wish he would.