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Love Me, Love My Mutt

As with all trends these days, evidence of the popularity of puppy love can be found in magazines – Love Unleashed is the cover story in the winter edition of Modern Dog – and, naturally, online.

Sheryl Matthys, who lives in a Manhattan studio with her husband, baby boy and two rescued Greyhounds, c0-founded a website called Leashesandlovers.com a year ago with Michelle Kennedy.

The pair – Matthys convinced her husband that dogs are family, too, while Kennedy found her dogsitting husband attached to a golden retriever in Central Park – hold monthly socials in New York for singles and their dogs, coordinating the fundraisers through their website.

So far, Leashes and Lovers has sponsored cocktail parties, spa outings, wine and biscuits nights, ice cream socials and, naturally, communal walks in New York dog parks, all of which attract hundreds of lonely singles and their dogs, says Matthys. “People who are dog lovers are a special breed,” she adds. “Their pet is very high up on the priority list for them.”

The partners’ most recent event was a Christmas party held last week at the Biscuits & Bath Doggy Gym in Manhattan, and Matthys has already had an email from a man who found a date. “The attraction,” says Matthys, “is the dog.”

Photo Courtesy of Todd Connor Photography