Dating Disasters: ‘After half an hour he finally arrived, but he wasn't alone...’

In Dating Disasters tell anonymous readers about their most embarrassing, cringeworthy, and dramatic dates. This week: the extreme dog lover.

I met Mark through a dating app. At first glance, we seemed like a good match: we lived a short train ride apart, shared the same humor, and had many of the same interests. There were just two big differences: he had a dog and I am not a dog person at all. Additionally, he preferred to drink beer and if there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s beer. Still, we thought these were not insurmountable differences and decided to meet up quickly.

I quickly regretted that when I had to wait a long time for his arrival on the day of our date. It was the middle of winter and we had decided to go ice skating, so it was also incredibly cold. After waiting for over half an hour, I finally saw him appear. I was relieved to see that he looked exactly like his photo, but that enthusiasm quickly faded when I saw that he had brought something else that I recognized from his profile: his dog. Before I could say anything, he said, ‘Sorry I’m late, Charlie and I were just in the bath together.’ At that moment, I almost hoped that Charlie was his girlfriend and he was just an ordinary cheater. Anything was better than a man who thinks it’s normal to bathe with his dog.

Nothing could be further from the truth, because when Charlie jumped on me with his muddy paws (the bath didn’t really work out), and Mark shouted, ‘Charlie, OFF!’, it really sank in that he had been in the bath with his dog. And he didn’t find it strange to bring that same dog to an ice skating date. With someone who didn’t like dogs. Okay then. We skated briefly after which he suggested going for a drink. It wasn’t fun for Charlie to have to sit on the sidelines the whole time.

I secretly started to wonder if he might have preferred to go on a date alone with Charlie when I let myself be dragged to one of his favorite cafes. My spirits officially sank when I saw which cafe we were going to: it was a beer cafe. Do you remember me saying that I don’t like dogs and beer? Well, he clearly didn’t anymore. That became evident when Mark preferred to sit on a bench rather than at a table. That way, Charlie could sit comfortably between us, he explained. That it wasn’t fun for me to have to sit next to Charlie the whole time didn’t even cross his mind at that moment.

So there I was, in a beer cafe with a drooling dog next to me, thinking about how I could get away as quickly as possible. I decided to come up with an excuse and sprinted to the train. I didn’t want to go on a date at all with someone who was so oblivious to what makes his date happy or not. And to be honest, I also really wanted to get away from that muddy, stinky beast.

I spoke to him one more time after that. Weeks later, on Valentine’s Day, he sent a message saying, ‘For you, from me, a seed. To see if something can bloom between us.’ I thought it was a nice try, but this sounded like something he had sent to all his dates from the past year. I didn’t respond anymore, but I hope he has found a match by now who does like beer and dogs...

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