Man's best friend in dating game

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Max the Dalmatian is handsome, playful and very sociable

In Los Angeles, a city where everyone spends a great deal of time in their car, David Willis discovers the latest way to meet people - through a canine companion.

Max and I are old friends. We have always liked each other and when we get together we always have a good time, so I was looking forward to hanging out together, making up for lost time, revisiting some of our old haunts.

The one thing that I had forgotten about Max was how very sociable he is. So I should have known that within minutes of us hitting the town he would be off - playing the field, that ever-roaming eye of his looking out for the ladies, the hint of conquest flaring his nostrils.

Max and I are different in several respects, not least in the leg division. He has four of them and I only have two.

And on this occasion he held the upper hand in another way - this was his turf - you could say he knew the place like the back of his paw.

Rock star reception

We had stopped by a park in upscale Santa Monica - not far from his home - and Max was off the leash - literally as well as metaphorically. Panting, barking and generally raising merry hell.

Max was off canoodling with his new chums - sniffing, licking, chasing them into oblivion - whilst I was left standing like a wallflower at the village disco One of the things you need to know about Max is that he is easy on the eye. He is statuesque to the point of being regal, and impeccably proportioned - the shape of a perfect square.

The fact that he carries more weight than the average four-year-old Dalmatian is more than mitigated by his boundless energy and sweet nature.

He is strong as well as playful, and ridiculously gregarious, which may help to explain the rock star reception we received - well okay, that he received - at the Santa Monica dog park.

It was the sort of greeting which the Hollywood stars who live nearby are well used to, but which (coming as it did in the form of a stampede of huskies, pit bulls and cocker spaniels) can be a little overwhelming.

Within minutes Max was off canoodling with his new chums - sniffing, licking, chasing them into oblivion - whilst I was left standing like a wallflower at the village disco.

Cindy thinks people whose dogs get on are likely to find common groundThere was, I have to admit, an altruistic motive to rekindling my relationship with Max. Word has it that dogs are the new social lubricant in this sprawling, car-crazy metropolis.

Dog parks, it seems, are the singles bars of the new millennium - a healthy outdoor environment in which to meet members of the opposite sex, where conversation flows in the effortless way that defines people with things in common, and even the chronically shy or the socially inept find it in them to flirt.

Compliment the dog, so the theory goes, and you compliment the owner as well.

Whilst Max was off strutting his stuff, I padded over to talk to Cindy Mott, a video tape editor who was trying hard to keep an eye on her hyperactive Chihuahua called Otis.

Nightlife venues

Cindy made no secret of the fact that she was out looking for a man - and said her friends had even advised her to put on a little make-up before hitting the park.

"It's the perfect environment," she told me, struggling to separate the overly-amorous Otis from a Pomeranian with a twinkle in his eye.

"If the dogs see eye-to-eye, I think there's a pretty good chance the owners will too."

That same principle is driving a dating site called datemypet.com, where dog owners can now post photos and descriptions of both themselves and their animals, alongside information about what each is looking for.

Dogs have a whole range of social opportunities to enjoySome - like Beau, a Golden Retriever - are easily pleased. A strong hand for tummy rubs and an occasional roll in the hay (that's Beau, not the owner).

By contrast, whoever takes on a Labrador called Boomer had better be prepared not only for meaty breath but a propensity for swallowing socks.

The concept has also spread to nightlife. Pooches, who at one time had little to do but stretch out on the porch, now find themselves with more social opportunities than Paris Hilton.

There is everything from cheese and wine events, which carry with them the allure of gourmet doggy biscuits, to pre-dinner cocktails at a weekly event known as "yappy hour".

Back in the dog park, Max was getting a lot more action than I was, yet stubbornly refused to spread the love. He chose the moment I fell into conversation with a beautiful blonde to pick an argument with her pit bull, and by the time we both looked round, the dispute had escalated into the canine equivalent of a bar room brawl.

The last I saw of her she was dragging her pet away by its collar muttering "don't you worry - we won't go anywhere near that nasty doggie ever again."

So Max, you are a lousy matchmaker - but I know that I need you more than you need me. The next time we go walkies let's take things a little slower. My tail may still be wagging, but I can't fetch like I used to.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 11 October, 2008 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the <a class="inlineText" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3187926.stm">programme schedules </a>for World Service transmission times.