Want game? Get a dog.

It’s a well-known fact that puppies are chick magnets. I am guilty as the biggest sucker for a dude with a puppy.

But did you know that a) that rule of thumb goes for men AND women, and b) it goes for 50lb adult (and painfully adorable) pitbulls?

I, too, was surprised.

Gertie has been a true eye-opener. Not only have I made friends through G (despite the fact that I stopped accepting applications for new friends years ago), but I’m absolutely slaying it with the menfolk!

Case and point: Marisa (babe) and I took Gertie for a walk along the Hudson not so long ago. We see a specimen approaching. And by ‘specimen’, I mean a man (well, he was almost a man) so incredible looking that just the sight of him stopped our conversation. For those of you who know Marisa and I but at all, you understand how hot he was.

Not that Ris and I aren’t total lookers (ahem), but there’s not a snowball’s chance in Hell this guy would have noticed us without a four-legged prop. He was that off the charts. Young, handsome, chiseled (am I getting carried away here?), and so far out of our league if only for the age difference. BUT – I digress…

As he approaches, he smiles (the most beautiful smile), and says (in the dreamiest of voices) “Great dog.”

Heart…skipping…beats…what do I say? WHAT DO I SAY?!

I beamed back at him, googley-eyed and said (in my dreamiest of voices) “Thanks.”

It took a good minute for Marisa and I to compose ourselves after giggling like schoolgirls. At which point, she said “Dude, we should never go anywhere without your dog.”

Agreed.

Sidenote: Marisa saw this same guy in Whole Foods not so long afterwards, and had no ammo. Sad.

And don’t get all “Oh, I wonder what Chris thinks about this” because those of you who know me, know that I called him immediately after our hot guy encounter to report to him that Gertie is seriously upping my game.

And he was proud – of both of us.

It goes both ways, by the way. Yesterday, for instance, Chris and Gertie met me for an outdoor lunch on Stone Street. I am not even remotely exaggerating when I say that we could not fend off the chicks. There was a swarm of waitresses, passer-bys, hostesses, Ladies Who Lunch - you name it – buzzing around our table throughout the entire meal. And was I invisible? Yes. It was Chris and Gertie and a gaggle of cooing Hotties.

And I was proud – of both of them.