Let’s face it: dogs are much more appealing to most women than fish—especially on a dating app. Odds are, a profile of a man holding a bass while fishing on a lake will get more left swipes than one with a man cuddling an adorable puppy. I mean, that’s just common sense. 

However, given the obvious appeal of pups on dating apps, more men are “dogfishing” their matches to get more right swipes. Are you a victim of dogfishing? Let’s find out.

What Is Dogfishing?

Not to be confused with catfishing, dogfishing is a tactic used by many men on dating apps. It usually involves using someone else’s dog in your photos to appear more wholesome and dateable than others. Because, hey, women love dogs. 

There’s something seemingly comforting about a furry friend in a dating app photo. Naturally, it makes the person seem more approachable and friendly.

It’s like when dating app users include photos of their nieces or nephews to make them seem more maternal or paternal. But does having a child in your family actually make you more nurturing or mature? Not necessarily. Still, many of us fall for those types of photos, nonetheless. 

“They’re such a family man!” I’ve heard countless female friends say about some random dude on Hinge before even meeting him in person. Why? Simply because he had photos with his little cousins or grandparents.

Needless to say, pictures can be misleading, especially if you’re borrowing your friend’s puppy just to look like a friendly dog person—aka, dogfishing.

Real-Life Example Dogfishing

I found a Reddit post detailing one user’s experience being dogfished by a male dating app user.

As the story goes…

“I swiped right on a guy (let’s call him John) because he had pictures of him and a really cute dog, and I really love dogs. Plus, on paper he seemed really good,” the Redditor wrote. “When we met up, John would tell me all about his dog, show me videos, pictures, etc. He himself seemed like a really good guy, and eventually, I even met the dog—sweetest girl ever.”

However, when OP swung by her man’s apartment unannounced one day, she learned the cold, hard truth: the pup was actually John’s roommate’s dog, not his.

“I was shocked,” OP wrote. “I told [John’s roommate, Alex] about all of the pics and vids John showed me, all the stories he said. Alex told me that the pics and vids are ones he took, and that those stories were true, but they didn’t happen to John; they happened to him instead, and he had no idea that John was using his dog like that.”

Naturally, OP was immediately weirded out by all the unnecessary lying and ended up leaving John. 

I think the overall issue with dogfishing is the deception. Why lie about having a dog, especially when directly asked about it? 

Look, if you want to use a cute pup to attract attention to your profile, by all means, be my guest. But don’t lie about a pet you don’t have. That’s just strange behavior.

As one Redditor so eloquently put it, “Trust is a cornerstone to a relationship, dudes, and when your first instinct is to deceive a woman into spending time with you, then you, sir, are one of the unsavoury ones our mothers warned us about.”