The date was great – until I saw how he treated my dog

Whenever I saw that a man worked with animals I started mentally curating our wholesome future together (Picture: Ekin Karasin)

‘Maggie. A-A-AH! Maggie! Stay, Maggie, STAY,’ my date boomed, his quivering finger held above my poor senior dog’s snout.

He turned to me and snapped: ‘When you’re back from the toilet I think we need to talk about seriously disciplining her.’

I gaped, looking at the dog that had been snoring next to us for the past hour.

‘What?’

While I stood by the table, he tugged aggressively on Maggie’s lead, yanking her back to his side when she tried to pad over to me.

‘She tries to follow you when you leave. She’s not listening to instruction, see? You should take ...