Perhaps taking a clue from BarkBuddy, an app that matches homeless dogs with people looking to adopt a new pet, pups from a New York City shelter are now being featured on the popular Tinder dating app.
Three interns at the ad agency BHH came up with the idea while participating in a competition to create a viral campaign.
“People strictly go to Tinder to find love, go there to find relationships and companionship,” Alexis Mood, one of the interns, told Adweek. “These dogs have something to give.”
Tinder requires users to have a Facebook account, so Social Tees Animal Rescue, a no-kill shelter, created pages for 10 of their homeless dogs. And since Tinder doesn’t allow profiles for children, the shelter had to fib about the dogs’ ages — for example, 9-week-old Vilma is instead “26.”
The interns added the dogs’ profiles to Tinder July 31 with bios like, “Your doghouse or mine?” and “Roses are grey, violets are grey, and everything is grey because I’m a dog.”
In less than a week, 2,700 matches were found (although only one dog has been adopted so far).
Adweek reports that some Tinder users were confused by dogs suddenly appearing as potential matches.
“LMAO why are there abandoned dogs popping up on #Tinder???” one user tweeted.
Tinder users who “swipe right” to express interest will be provided with adoption information. For those looking for a shorter-term hookup, the dogs are available for fostering, or for being taken for walks.
Mood didn’t say whether her team won the BHH competition (how could they not?!), but she did tell myfox8.com that they will soon be adding more dog profiles to Tinder.