• by Susan Kuchinskas , July 23, 2008

You know how you've dumped someone because she couldn't stand the coating of cat hair on your sofa? Or maybe you've realized you like his golden retriever more than you like him. Check this out: 4-year-old datemypet.com, an online dating service for the love-me, love-my-pet crowd, with advertisers including pet product companies as well as competitor eharmony.com.

But don't stop there. Parent company NextPulse, an incubator for social networking services, has launched MyDogSpace, where people can display their doggy's style. The site is going after exclusive sponsorship tie-ins, such as one with the best-seller Marley & Me. The titular incorrigible Labrador will have his own profile, where people can track the production of the movie being made based on the book.

With 35,000 unique visitors a month and a 20 percent growth rate, MyDogSpace has taken off faster than sister sites MyCatSpace and MyFatKat, a Lolcats knockoff. NextPulse honcho Robert Yau says market leaders Purina PetCentric and Dogster/Catster have barely penetrated the $43.4 billion pet industry, and he aims to grab some of their share of online ad dollars - as well as their users. If that traffic growth continues, Yau won't need to sit up and beg for advertisers.