Journalist Joe Veix was feeling bored and lonely one day, so he decided to join Tinder. As a dog.
Joe Veix
Veix set up a profile as both a male and female golden retriever named Hero.
Joe Veix
The profile stated the 26-year-old pooch was looking for both men and women within a 100-mile radius.
Veix said he liked every profile he came across as Hero and pretty soon people began getting in touch.
Some played along with the joke.
Joe Veix
Some people bizarrely decided to act like dogs when talking to Hero.
Joe Veix
Others pretended to be cats.
Joe Veix
Some of the Tinder users tried some old chat up lines on the pretend dog.
Joe Veix
Inevitably some started posting explicit messages.
Joe Veix
Hero's responses were slightly varied.
Joe Veix
Some people got a little too into it.
Joe Veix
Veix said the male Hero received 206 matches — 154 men and 52 women — after just four days on Tinder.
Joe Veix
But the profile really took off when he switched Hero to a female dog.
Joe Veix
In just two hours the female profile received 300 male matches.
Joe Veix
Veix told BuzzFeed that when he was a male dog "the responses tended to be more lighthearted and people played along with the joke".
However, when the profile was switched to a female dog, "pretty much every message was aggressive, sad, and weird".
Veix said he stopped being a female dog after just a day and subsequently deleted Tinder from his phone.
Joe Veix
He said afterwards: "Even if you're a dog, online dating is terrible."
