Half of people with pets have experienced their animals interrupting when they're being intimate and 6% say it always happens. Another half have found their dog gets jealous during 'periods of closeness'.
Research by healthy pet food brand Burns Pet Nutrition found that in order to not upset their pet, one in three partners have opted to avoid 'relations' altogether. And a quarter have used their dog as an excuse not to have sex with a partner.
However, singletons have found that pets, especially dogs, can be ideal for a get-out-of-jail card. If you swiped right and went on the date but it wasn’t going well, one in three people have used their pet to get out of the situation. Almost half of pet owners would dump their partner if their dog didn’t like them.
Samantha, 32 from London said: “I was once on a date and I took my new puppy as the guy asked me to bring her along, but the date was going so badly, I had to get out of there. Annoyingly, I'm rubbish at making excuses to leave, so when she started barking, I saw my window and I said she was being vocal because she was hungry and I had to get her home immediately to feed her”.
John Burns, Founder of Burns Pet Nutrition, said: “It is obvious that our pets can get somewhat jealous of intimacy between partners. It is a natural response, especially when it is a new partner on the scene but there are steps that can be taken to avoid this such as reassuring the pet that all is well.
“But, if they are being overly demanding you can take away this attention and reinforce better behaviour.”
To coincide with Valentine’s Day, Burns Pet Nutrition has created MyDogMatch.com, a platform where those looking to find their perfect puppy match can search through dog breeds, outlining all their pro’s and con’s.
