Online Dating Sites For Dogs

One day, when the Internet Hall of Fame mulls this recent technological leap, it’ll have a tough time determining which coast truly universalized online dating for dogs. New York City and San Francisco — the two towns where people care at least as much about their dogs as they do their children — are home to online startups that seek to fill the real world needs of the canine set.
On the East Coast, there’s Matchpuppy, “a brand new way for you and your dog to meet new friends in your neighborhood,” according to the site’s homepage. It is currently in beta testing. On the West Coast, Spotwag, “your alternative to a kennel or pet hotel,” the homepage reads. “We transform your social network into a support network.” (Despite its name, Spotwag also serves cats and, one assumes, other pets.)
Like Dogster, Doggyspace.com and others before them, both Matchpuppy and Spotwag capitalize on the totally scientific fact that one in 10 pets have social media profiles (at least according to this one UK survey from 2011). What sets these sites apart however is that they don’t cater to humans who pretend to be their pets on Facebook, taking on the perceived personalities of their “fur babies.”
Describing MatchPuppy as the “OKCupid for for doggy playdates,” Mashable notes that the “website matches up New York City dogs with furry companions according to size, age and energy level.” “This is a need in the market,” MatchPuppy co-founder Michael Chiang told Mashable. “A lot of people who have small dogs would rather they have small dogs to play with. It can be used for puppy play date or it can be for breeding.” Online dating for doggies is an awesome idea. As the owner of two Petfinder.com rescue pugs — as well as several others in the past and no doubt more in the future — I am forever combing the Internet for ways to keep them entertained. Often, puggie playdates I find on Meetup.com end in disappointing no-shows, and kennel stays make them crabby. I would definitely try a service that is dedicated to meeting these needs.
Both Matchpuppy and Spotwag provide pet owners like me with the social networking we love, and pets with the companionship they need. Like the Gottfried Leibniz/Isaac Newton controversy over who first turned regular old math into calculus, we may long argue over whether it was Matchpuppy or Spotwag that meaningfully expanded the social media dog paradigm.