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It’s love at first sniff.
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, an energetic Bernedoodle named Callie bounded into her date at the Soho Grand Dog Park.
Her match, Crew, an English Cocker Spaniel, didn’t need much convincing.
Within minutes, the two were tearing across the artificial turf, sharing a slobbery tennis ball, cooling off in the park’s stone dog bath, and posing for photos with their tongues hanging out after an hour of near-constant play.
The pair had never met before. Their owners matched them through Dog Date Afternoon, a new app that works a bit like a dating service for dogs and the people who love them.
“They hit it off immediately and played to the point of near exhaustion,” New Yorker and app creator Erika Wasser told The Post.
Without Dog Date Afternoon, the two pups likely would have passed each other on a crowded Manhattan sidewalk and never crossed paths again.
In a city where hurried dog owners yank leashes to avoid pedestrian traffic or feel overwhelmed at one of the hundreds of crowded dog parks, Dog Date Afternoon is trying to make canine socializing a little more intentional.
And for many owners, whose dogs have become family members — and often surrogate children — a social app for canines may be less ridiculous than it sounds.
The $4.99 a month app, which launched in late May, lets owners create profiles for their pups based on age, size, temperament and play style.
Dog Date Afternoon has key features from matching with compatible dogs nearby for one-on-one playdates or group outings known as “puppy parties,” chatting with matches, and a dog-friendly map of NYC where users can pin their favorite dog-friendly spots, including stores and restaurants.
There is also an option to include vaccination status and calendars to keep all your social outings in order— all in pursuit of that pawfect match.
But it’s not just about entertaining energetic pets — experts say carefully matched interactions can be healthier than the free-for-all environment of many dog parks.
Dogs of all sizes in New York City are confined by the walls of generally small apartments and the schedules of their busy owners, many of whom work traditional business hours.
But despite the constant activity, the second their paws get outside — faced with sirens, passersby and unfamiliar smells — what the dogs really need is quality stimulation.
“One-on-one playdates allow owners to focus on compatibility instead of convenience,” Ivan Petersel, CPDT-KA and dog sensei at training company Dog Virtuoso, told The Post. “Dogs can be matched based on temperament, play style, and communication skills.”
Petersel says that for many dogs, carefully structured interaction is far more beneficial than being placed into a large group of unfamiliar dogs, like at a dog park.
“I met a guy who joined the app who has two dogs, one friendly, one not, and for him it really makes him more comfortable when he matches with someone so he can explain that his dog can sometimes be a jerk,” Wasser joked.
Or at odd hours, some dog parks might be completely deserted, something that Wasser says happened countless times.
“I often would go to the dog park, and it would often be us alone, and I’d just run around so she could chase me,” Wasser recalled. “She can get picky about playmates and gets really nervous around much bigger dogs … going on playdates has been great. She’s matched with dogs that suit her size and play type.”
For Ozzy, a 16-year-old rescue lab mix, joining Dog Date Afternoon happened very organically after a casual interaction with Wasser and Callie on Spring Street.
“I’ve noticed recently in New York, people are less social with their dogs than they used to be; people don’t naturally let the dogs meet as they used to,” said Ozzy’s owner, Lily Koppel.
“That’s the beauty of the app. I live in Hudson Square. I just find that a lot of people are getting used to staying in their bubble and phone pod, and it’s not fair to the dog.”
Shortly after their interaction, Koppel and Ozzy set up their playdate with Wasser and Callie.
“Ozzy shamelessly wanted to check out the park, which was a lovely first meeting place; it was very chic,” she said. “It was fun for me, too. Erika and I just sat on our benches and watched the dogs.”
Koppel said that the app is a great experiment for dog owners because it pushes them to be more social.
That premise was a major driving force behind Wasser’s why.
After moving back to New York from LA and entering a different phase of her life than many of her friends, she felt a personal push to create a space where dog owners could find each other and build a community effortlessly.
“I don’t have kids — I only have a dog, so I think there are a lot more people who look like me where their dog is their family,” the founder said. “The same sorts of services that exist for kids should exist for dogs.”
Grace Feld, the 22-year-old owner of app member Crew, also appreciates the human interaction beyond the doggy playdates.
“The app brings dog parents together from all across the city and helps create new connections for both dogs and their humans,” Feld told The Post.
Melissa Boris, whose chocolate lab, Mickey Ray, wants to make friends with every dog in NYC, has had a hard time finding other dogs who match his energy and says that being on the app makes it so much easier for him.
“For city dogs and their humans, it’s such a fun way to build real connections and turn random walks into actual friendships … for both of us,” the 45-year-old dog lover said.
The idea for the app came, and its launch came almost immediately. After working in tech for many years, Wasser was baffled that nothing like this had existed before.
With the ideation just two months ago, Dog Date Afternoon was built entirely with Claude as a side project, now boasting a growing waitlist of hundreds of dog-loving owners in every ZIP code across the city, she told The Post.
“First iteration went to the app store in mid-May, and the beta version is what I’m most proud of,” Wasser told The Post.
“As soon as it hit the app store, I was able to tell people in my neighborhood, and they were, like, ‘Oh, my God, I need that,’ and just started signing up,” she added. “It’s been really cool, I’m also meeting people I never would’ve met, Callie is meeting other dogs.”
At the end of Callie and Crew’s playdate, the Bernedoodle was “happily zonked,” Wasser gloated, which is a great result for everyone.
“His vibe, post-playdate? He’s debonaire, he’s a little gentleman. He was just sort of like walking with a pep in his step, tail wagging,” Koppel said of Ozzy after his dog date with Callie. She joked that she prepped him before the important playdate with the CEO of Dog Date Afternoon.
The essence of the app is that it’s not just about finding new friends for dogs, but about a broader reflection on what socialization means to pet parents, too.
“What does it mean to be a dog and a human today in New York?” Koppel asked.
Strangers can meet because their dogs wanted to play — and both species come home happier.
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