Tips for ensuring your pet takes to a new boyfriend or girlfriend.

IT’S easy to love a dog.

What could be better than to be greeted with passionate ecstasy, even if you’ve only been away for two minutes? How lovely to be adored, always and unconditionally; and by a companion who never criticises or argues, and who doesn’t even notice when you’ve had a bad hair day.

According to a new study, pet ownership among single people is on the rise. In the US it rose up by 10% between 2006 and 2011. And that is likely to be mirrored on this side of the Atlantic.