One hundred lonely Shanghai dogs will have a chance to find their ideal mates at a dog-dating event hosted by China's first professional online pet matchmaking company, the Shanghai Daily said on Thursday.

The event, later this month, is organised by gougou520.com, which will try to match the pooches with the perfect partners -- though it may not only be the dogs that benefit.

"For single pet owners, this may lead to a real romance. We found most people who register are under 35 and working-class singles," the Web site's director, Zhou Handong, told the newspaper.

Zhou said the service had matched 100 pets, using basic data and personality information, and registered 2,000 since it launched in December.

(Reuters via China Daily July 8, 2006)