Single? Don’t bother with Tinder. Just get a dog

EVER since Wilson the Wonderdog joined our family I have become a veritable man magnet, writes Frances Whiting.

Who can resist this face? Not blokes, that’s for sure. (Pic: iStock)

IF I ever were to become single again — should, for example, my husband John restack the dishwasher after I have already loaded it perfectly one too many times — I would not bother to go on any of those dating sites, such as Tinder or RSVP.

In fact, I would not go looking for a new love at all. I would, however, go looking for a new book to add to the hundreds I would joyfully be reading in lieu of ever going out again to anywhere that would require me to wear ironed clothing.

But if, for argument’s sake, I was looking for that special someone, I would not bother with dating sites, going to bars, or hanging around the frozen food section at the supermarket with a cheese wheel turned to the left in my trolley.

What I would do is get a dog.

The cuteness is almost too much. (Pic: iStock)

I say this because ever since Wilson the Wonderdog joined our family I have become a veritable man magnet.

I swear I cannot step outside my front door with Wilson without some man — young, old, middle-aged; Wilson and I aren’t fussy — approaching us.

One minute Wilson and I are walking along together happily, and the next some bloke is sidling up to us, saying: “Well hello there, gorgeous, what’s your name?”

It took a few embarrassing times of me actually answering “It’s Frances...” before I realised they were the addressing my dog, not me.

Ladies, let me tell you, men love dogs, and more importantly they love talking about dogs.

I’ve just come home from the single person’s smorgasbord that is the dog park where a man spoke to me non-stop for about 15 minutes and then suggested we get together again.

In fact, his exact words were “We should do this again”.

Now by “me” he meant Sheba, his German shepherd, and Wilson, my golden retriever, but no matter — the point is if I were single I would have had a date.

Granted, it wouldn’t have been much of a date, as Sheba’s owner spent much of our time together talking about the dog’s moulting problem, but it would have been a date nevertheless.

Dogs bring people closer together. And if you’re single and looking for love, that’s a good thing. (Pic: Getty)

Similarly another man, who also owned a golden retriever, spoke to me at length about the importance of breeding and gene pools for so long that I cannot be sure, but I think he might have been asking me to have his baby.

So if you are single and looking for love, get thee down to the dog park. You can borrow Wilson if you like; he’s like catnip for blokes, I tell you, catnip.

Originally published as Single? Don’t bother with Tinder. Just get a dog