6 ms·

Do women have a thing for men with dogs? I've read at certain forums that men with dogs have better success with girls but never came across a study.

decebalus1 7y ago
It's an American thing and it's more than that. Having a dog is like a signal that you're 'normal'. If you don't have a dog, there may be something wrong with you. The lack of a dog or love for dogs is actually the red flag. The dog just raises you closer to the baseline. If you don't like dogs and have the audacity to voice your preference out loud, prepare to be a social outcast/weirdo/creep.
- magduf 7y ago
  Exactly. My profile clearly states that I have cats, and at least on OKC, I do have the audacity in the "questions" (in a couple asking if you have/want a dog or like dogs) to say that I don't like dogs much, and like them about as much as I like goats and horses (which is to say, they're fun to see on a farm once in a while, but that's it). I rarely get any interest from white American women, but I get tons of interest from Asian women. I agree that this is an American thing, but moreover, I think it's a relatively recent thing too. I don't remember this dog craze existing back in the 90s.
dwd 7y ago
I guess it's all in the signaling. A guy who's nice to animals may be perceived as being nice in general. Owning a dog makes for a good neutral conversation starter. There is a link between cruelty to animals and violence against women, murder, etc. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/domestic-violence-animal-cruelty-abuse-neglect-murder-children-dogs-a9018071.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/domestic-viole... Owning a cat however isn't the same, and could have a negative effect.
- mirimir 7y ago
  > Owning a cat however isn't the same, and could have a negative effect. Huh? All of my ~longtime girlfriends and wives have been cat people. Two out of three wives, at one point in their lives, had more than five cats. The first, when I met her, had over 20 cats. Counting kittens and loosely attached males. So why not cats?
  - ojbyrne 7y ago
    Dogs make you go outside on a regular basis. So there’s that.
  - valarauko 7y ago
    I think the link is between men owning cats, not women owning cats.
    - mirimir 7y ago
      OK, but why would it be different for women?
      - valarauko 7y ago
        No idea. Perhaps men are indifferent to the pets women have, while women do care? As the initial poster was stating, men who have dogs seem to fare better at attracting women, while men who have cats seem to fare worse. There was nothing about women's success at attracting men, and the effect different animals have on it.
        mirimir 7y ago
        > As the initial poster was stating, men who have dogs seem to fare better at attracting women, while men who have cats seem to fare worse. What's your evidence for that? There's nothing in the Independent article about it.
        7y ago
cthulha 7y ago
This is such a weird and obtuse way to look at human relations, and as a dog person it's so weird to see this alien take on a pretty common part of culture. I'm guessing 'certain forums' is code for the PUA community? You might want to think of 'women' as being a category with a lot of different and divergent people in it. Some of them like animals. Some of them don't. If they're into pets and you're into pets, then that might help open a conversation. But that's more like 'women who have a thing for dogs'.
- mschuster91 7y ago
  > I'm guessing 'certain forums' is code for the PUA community? Nah, not really, this thing has been 'round since a 2008 study in pet owner forums/FB groups and gets recycled in the summer news hole every other year.
- sbmthakur 7y ago
  I read it on Quora and the answer was written from the perspective of establishing good(and lasting) relationships(unlike what you guessed) and that's what I meant with "success with girls". I understand that women are a diverse lot but there are articles which do talk about bond between women and dogs[1]. But since we cannot just accept articles as facts, I thought of enquiring if this has been academically studied. 1. https://www.caninejournal.com/women-and-dogs/ https://www.caninejournal.com/women-and-dogs/
gumby 7y ago
My wife used to joke that she should be worried about me walking the dog as dogs are “chick magnets”. As it turned out my dog was so magnetic that I might as well not have even been there.
mschuster91 7y ago
Here is one, claiming (in n=120 for each case) over triple the reaction rate of "approaching woman w/ dog" (9.2%) to "w/o dog" (28.3%): https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/meet-catch-and-keep/201604/how-dogs-help-men-in-the-dating-market https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/meet-catch-and-keep/... The article also mentions other studies which focus on the "why" part.
- zajio1am 7y ago
  You switched the percent rates, it should be: approaching woman w/o dog" (9.2%) to "with dog" (28.3%)
magduf 7y ago
In America, absolutely yes. Basically every single white American woman over the age of 30 has a dog, or really wants to date a guy who has a dog. Every one of their dating profiles says how "obsessed" with dogs they are. If you're a guy with a cat, you will have a very hard time getting a date with a white American woman. Luckily, there's other (better) women out there who don't insist on having animals that are totally impractical in the city.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  >animals that are totally impractical in the city. Having a dog signals that you will take on caring for another being even if it is not in your financial best interest and that you can at least keep the thing alive. Think with your lizard brain and it makes perfect sense why women are attracted to that.
  - magduf 7y ago
    Having a cat also signals that you will take on caring for another being even though it is not in your financial best interest. But when you live in a condo with no backyard, or some other city dwelling like that, a cat makes far more sense, and doesn't require the ridiculous amount of maintenance that a dog does. Why childless American women who explicitly don't want children aren't attracted to men who like cats, I have no idea. It's not like this in other countries; this is mostly an American phenomenon.
    - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
      >But when you live in a condo with no backyard, or some other city dwelling like that, a cat makes far more sense, and doesn't require the ridiculous amount of maintenance that a dog does. That's exactly what I'm saying. The dog is conspicuous consumption. It's signaling that you are willing to burn resources (time in particular) in a similar manner you would on a child. The lizard brain eats that shit up and the human brain is none the wiser. As a byproduct of being far more practical in terms of time/money resources the cat does not broadcast that signal. Nobody is saying the cat is not more practical. That's a given.
Meekro 7y ago
The founders of OkCupid researched this sort of thing quite a bit before their site was sold off. One of their studies showed that, for men, having any sort of animal in your profile pic is the best thing you can do to get women's attention-- better than having a sixpack, better than showing off an awesome hobby, etc. https://web.archive.org/web/20110126111953/http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-4-big-myths-of-profile-pictures/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110126111953/http://blog.okcup...
- magduf 7y ago
  It's really a shame that site was sold off; it was a great site before that happened. It hasn't been completely ruined yet, but it's definitely not as nice as it was.

decebalus1 7y ago

It's an American thing and it's more than that. Having a dog is like a signal that you're 'normal'. If you don't have a dog, there may be something wrong with you. The lack of a dog or love for dogs is actually the red flag. The dog just raises you closer to the baseline. If you don't like dogs and have the audacity to voice your preference out loud, prepare to be a social outcast/weirdo/creep.

magduf 7y ago
Exactly. My profile clearly states that I have cats, and at least on OKC, I do have the audacity in the "questions" (in a couple asking if you have/want a dog or like dogs) to say that I don't like dogs much, and like them about as much as I like goats and horses (which is to say, they're fun to see on a farm once in a while, but that's it). I rarely get any interest from white American women, but I get tons of interest from Asian women. I agree that this is an American thing, but moreover, I think it's a relatively recent thing too. I don't remember this dog craze existing back in the 90s.

dwd 7y ago

I guess it's all in the signaling. A guy who's nice to animals may be perceived as being nice in general. Owning a dog makes for a good neutral conversation starter. There is a link between cruelty to animals and violence against women, murder, etc. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/domestic-violence-animal-cruelty-abuse-neglect-murder-children-dogs-a9018071.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/domestic-viole... Owning a cat however isn't the same, and could have a negative effect.

mirimir 7y ago
> Owning a cat however isn't the same, and could have a negative effect. Huh? All of my ~longtime girlfriends and wives have been cat people. Two out of three wives, at one point in their lives, had more than five cats. The first, when I met her, had over 20 cats. Counting kittens and loosely attached males. So why not cats?
- ojbyrne 7y ago
  Dogs make you go outside on a regular basis. So there’s that.
- valarauko 7y ago
  I think the link is between men owning cats, not women owning cats.
  - mirimir 7y ago
    OK, but why would it be different for women?
    - valarauko 7y ago
      No idea. Perhaps men are indifferent to the pets women have, while women do care? As the initial poster was stating, men who have dogs seem to fare better at attracting women, while men who have cats seem to fare worse. There was nothing about women's success at attracting men, and the effect different animals have on it.
      - mirimir 7y ago
        > As the initial poster was stating, men who have dogs seem to fare better at attracting women, while men who have cats seem to fare worse. What's your evidence for that? There's nothing in the Independent article about it.
        7y ago

cthulha 7y ago

This is such a weird and obtuse way to look at human relations, and as a dog person it's so weird to see this alien take on a pretty common part of culture. I'm guessing 'certain forums' is code for the PUA community? You might want to think of 'women' as being a category with a lot of different and divergent people in it. Some of them like animals. Some of them don't. If they're into pets and you're into pets, then that might help open a conversation. But that's more like 'women who have a thing for dogs'.

mschuster91 7y ago
> I'm guessing 'certain forums' is code for the PUA community? Nah, not really, this thing has been 'round since a 2008 study in pet owner forums/FB groups and gets recycled in the summer news hole every other year.
sbmthakur 7y ago
I read it on Quora and the answer was written from the perspective of establishing good(and lasting) relationships(unlike what you guessed) and that's what I meant with "success with girls". I understand that women are a diverse lot but there are articles which do talk about bond between women and dogs[1]. But since we cannot just accept articles as facts, I thought of enquiring if this has been academically studied. 1. https://www.caninejournal.com/women-and-dogs/ https://www.caninejournal.com/women-and-dogs/

gumby 7y ago

My wife used to joke that she should be worried about me walking the dog as dogs are “chick magnets”. As it turned out my dog was so magnetic that I might as well not have even been there.

mschuster91 7y ago

Here is one, claiming (in n=120 for each case) over triple the reaction rate of "approaching woman w/ dog" (9.2%) to "w/o dog" (28.3%): https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/meet-catch-and-keep/201604/how-dogs-help-men-in-the-dating-market https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/meet-catch-and-keep/... The article also mentions other studies which focus on the "why" part.

zajio1am 7y ago
You switched the percent rates, it should be: approaching woman w/o dog" (9.2%) to "with dog" (28.3%)

magduf 7y ago

In America, absolutely yes. Basically every single white American woman over the age of 30 has a dog, or really wants to date a guy who has a dog. Every one of their dating profiles says how "obsessed" with dogs they are. If you're a guy with a cat, you will have a very hard time getting a date with a white American woman. Luckily, there's other (better) women out there who don't insist on having animals that are totally impractical in the city.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
>animals that are totally impractical in the city. Having a dog signals that you will take on caring for another being even if it is not in your financial best interest and that you can at least keep the thing alive. Think with your lizard brain and it makes perfect sense why women are attracted to that.
- magduf 7y ago
  Having a cat also signals that you will take on caring for another being even though it is not in your financial best interest. But when you live in a condo with no backyard, or some other city dwelling like that, a cat makes far more sense, and doesn't require the ridiculous amount of maintenance that a dog does. Why childless American women who explicitly don't want children aren't attracted to men who like cats, I have no idea. It's not like this in other countries; this is mostly an American phenomenon.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    >But when you live in a condo with no backyard, or some other city dwelling like that, a cat makes far more sense, and doesn't require the ridiculous amount of maintenance that a dog does. That's exactly what I'm saying. The dog is conspicuous consumption. It's signaling that you are willing to burn resources (time in particular) in a similar manner you would on a child. The lizard brain eats that shit up and the human brain is none the wiser. As a byproduct of being far more practical in terms of time/money resources the cat does not broadcast that signal. Nobody is saying the cat is not more practical. That's a given.

Meekro 7y ago

The founders of OkCupid researched this sort of thing quite a bit before their site was sold off. One of their studies showed that, for men, having any sort of animal in your profile pic is the best thing you can do to get women's attention-- better than having a sixpack, better than showing off an awesome hobby, etc. https://web.archive.org/web/20110126111953/http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-4-big-myths-of-profile-pictures/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110126111953/http://blog.okcup...

magduf 7y ago
It's really a shame that site was sold off; it was a great site before that happened. It hasn't been completely ruined yet, but it's definitely not as nice as it was.