Modern dating can be exhausting. Take Tinder. Sure, there have been fairytale stories that start with a swipe and end in marriage. But, can you really identify your ideal partner based on a few, often filtered, selfies?
Of course not. These days, it takes more than an initial attraction to light a spark. That’s why Tinder decided it’s best to include a determining factor: the bio.
So, what should you put in your bio? Should it be a witty joke? The good old ASL? Or should you go with something more specific like which car you drive or even what type of pet you own?
Just think, the type of pet you own can say so much about you. Think about the typical chihuahua owner, you’ve probably got a stereotype in your head, right? Now think of the typical Staffordshire Bull Terrier owner, again, maybe you’ve got a stereotype in your head?
We’d all like to believe that we’re not ignorant enough to judge someone based on typical pet owning stereotypes, but if you want to get more strategic in attracting someone with the same values as you, maybe adding a “chihuahua lover” to your bio isn’t a bad idea?
Well, we wanted to put this theory to the test. Can including details on the pet you own in your bio get you more matches? Which is the best (and worst!) Pet to add? And do the pets that drive swipes differ between men and women?
Let’s find out.
How Did We Do This
We mastered the art of the catfish.
Step 1 - Profile Creation
We created 30 fake profiles - 15 as a generally attractive 27-year-old man called Charlie and 15 as an equally attractive 27-year-old woman called Charlotte. With the same name, age and picture, the only variable that we changed for each profile was a small line in their bio with what pet they owned and the relevant emoji 🐕.
Step 2 - Swiping
For each new profile, we swiped right on 250 different accounts and recorded the number of matches.
So, we put the following pets to the test: Dogs, Cats, Indoor birds, Rabbits, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs, Horses, Tortoises, Snakes, Pigeons, Lizards, Gerbils, Rats, Insects, Frogs, Ferrets, Newts, Fish
Think your pet Labrador ranked you higher in attractiveness than your mate’s cocker? Scroll down and see for yourself.
The Sexiest Pet to Own According Women
It turns out that women get hot under the collar for dogs with 132 matches, while horses came in second with 98. Cats didn't perform too badly either, with 91 women lapping up Charlie’s profile.
The Most Unsexy Pet to Own According to Women
Moving on down our list, we come to our Ferrets which only managed to score 32 matches, followed by Pigeons and Rats which scored a paltry 29 matches each. However, the worst performing pet was the insect. Scoring only 27 matches, you should definitely avoid adding ants or spiders to your profile bio.
The Sexiest Pet to Own According to Men
So, which pet bagged Charlotte the most matches from men? It was none other than a pet horse, which earned 191 swipes. Cats were also very popular with 185 swipes, while dogs came in as the third most popular pet with 169 swipes.
The Most Unsexy Pet to Own According to Men
At the other end of our scale, what pet should women avoid adding to their bio? Well, Hamsters are a bit of a no-no with only 79 swipes. Newts and Insects should be avoided too with only 67 and 65 wipes respectively. But the two pets that should be avoided at all costs are Pigeons and Rats. Scoring 62 and 61, these two pets will kill your chances of romance this summer.
The Sexiest Dog Breed to Own According to Women
So, with dogs performing well for both Charlie and Charlotte, we wondered how the results compared if we made our bio dog breed specific. Compiling a list of the 18 most popular dog breeds, we created more profiles and put the different breeds to the test.
As you can see above, if you’re looking to maximise your swipes, we’d recommend mentioning a friendly Golden Retriever. If you’re not a fan of retrievers, the second best breed to mention is the French Bulldog, followed by the Labrador, Cocker Spaniel and in fifth place, the Beagle.
The Most Unsexy Dog Breed to Own According to Women
So, what’s the most unsexy dog to own according to women? Well, the Dachshund fell into the bottom five after grabbing only 85 swipes. A little further down the rankings was the Yorkshire Terrier, which managed only 82. While the bottom three was made up of the Bichon Frise with 77 swipes, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier with 62 swipes and in the bottom place, the Jack Russell, which only managed to receive 58 swipes.
The Sexiest Dog Breed to Own According to Men
So, which dog breed would bag Charlotte the most dates? Surprisingly, the beagle turned out to be the most popular dog breed among men scoring a high of 172 swipes. The second most popular was the Labrador which bagged Charlotte another 170 suitors. Finally, grabbing the third spot was the Golden Retriever, which was slightly less popular among men with 165 swipes.
The Most Unsexy Dog Breed to Own According to Men
Moving on down the list, what dog breeds should you avoid adding to your profile? Well, third from bottom, the Dachshund should be one you omit as this breed only managed to pick up 112 potential suitors. Second from bottom was the Shih Tzu, with this adorable breed only managing 107 swipes. While the dog you should definitely avoid is the Chihuahua, which only managed to scrape a paltry 102 swipes.
The Sexiest Cat Breed to Own According to Women
So, after conducting the study by dog breed, we knew we were obliged to conduct a cat breed specific analysis too. People love cats just as much as they love dogs. Plus, the internet is pretty much 99% cat memes, so we were hoping this would be reflected in our result. Did it? Let’s find out.
Well, for Charlie, the Marine Coon offers his best chance at racking up dates. This big fluff ball picked him up a steady 67 swipes. This was closely followed by the Russian Blue with 58 swipes and the Persian with 65 swipes.
The Most Unsexy Cat to Own According to Women
Moving on down the table, it’s not unexpected to see the love it or hate it Sphynx scoring Charlie the lowest number of swipes with only 26. However, we were surprised to see the adorable Scottish Fold and majestic Savannah Cat fall into the bottom three with only 32 and 39 swipes respectively.
The Sexiest Cat Breed to Own According to Men
So, what about Charlotte, which of our cats would help her up the old Tinder game? Well, similar to Charlie, the Maine Coon would have to be her cat of choice, scoring a respectable 172 swipes. If the Maine Coon isn’t your dream cat, you could also try the Bengal or the Russian Blue.
The Most Unsexy Cat to Own According to Men
The cats to avoid should, again, be the Sphynx which scored just under 100 swipes. The Savannah Cat and the Scottish Fold also scored poorly with 108 and 112 swipes respectively.
Methodology
All statistics that feature in this article have been collated using data collected from Tinder. This study looked at how many people swiped right to match with two profiles based on small edits to their bios. The data was taken one day after swiping right to 250 profiles for each of the profiles.
Please find the full raw dataset here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bWSvYC5hhkq1gDaSkQs2pWZDeYLeg88Bh47j-7jyq_s/edit#gid=0