IRL

Pet adoption is the new online dating

It’s like an online dating web site, but for dogs.

Photo of Emma Sarran Webster

Emma Sarran Webster

Article Lead Image

Head to any animal shelter and you’ll meet at least a few dogs who were given away by families after realizing they weren’t a good fit. Perhaps the terrier didn’t get along with the kids, or the golden retriever needed more human interaction than the busy full-time-career parents could provide. Enter a new, sort-of online dating site for potential pet owners and dogs called PawsLikeMe that is hoping to cut back on those unfortunate mismatches.

Featured Video

The Florida-based company, which recently launched nationwide, invites potential pet owners to take a “Pet Compatibility Test” to find a dog that fits with their personalities and lifestyles. The dogs available for adoption through the site come from local shelters or from people looking to safely, responsibly re-home their animals.

“Seventy percent of pets are re-homed more than once in their lifetime,” Elizabeth Holmes, CEO and co-founder of PawsLikeMe, said in a press release. “Our genuine hope is that by providing a better way of matching pets with their new families, we can change that and find them not just a home, but the right home.”

Which is where the test comes in: The three-to-five minute quiz focuses on four personality traits that, according to the website, “influence the human-canine bond”: energy, focus, confidence, and independence. The idea is that choosing a dog based solely on breed or age, for example, isn’t enough. “There is a personality that a dog has and that all animals have that is very individual and goes beyond breed characteristics,” Holmes told USA Today Network.

Advertisement

Holmes’ co-founders are a veterinary animal behaviorist and a social worker with a psychology specialization. Though the company doesn’t guarantee a perfect match, they do maintain that their algorithm results in a 90 percent accuracy rate in predicting compatibility between people and pets.

PawsLikeMe is one more way to help out animals in need of homes  — and there are a lot. According to the ASPCA, approximately 3.9 million dogs are taken to shelters each year. As for the cat people out there, good news: The company claims they’re in the process of developing a feline matching system, so it’s only a matter of time before you’ll have your own little #catsofinstagram star to cuddle up with.

H/T USA Today Network | Photo via Unsplash/Anoir Chafik

 
The Daily Dot