To find the love of your life, you've tried singles bars, classified ads, and online dating sites. Have you tried an animal shelter?

This Sunday at the Botanical Gardens, hundreds of Bermuda pet lovers will be celebrating that special animal in their life by taking part in a Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) pet walk Leashes & Lovers of Dogs 2007.

In honour of the event, The Royal Gazette Lifestyles spoke to several people who recently met their four legged true loves at the SPCA, and got some helpful relationship tips along the way.

Believe in love at first sight.

For Robin Wills and Ian Ratcliffe, their new dog Max, has brought fun times and lots of laughter to their lives.

Mr. Ratcliffe and Mr. Wills, both from England, work in local restaurants in Bermuda. They adopted Max, a collie-cross, from the SPCA in September.

"He has the most beautiful brown eyes," said a clearly besotted Mr. Wills. "We'd had a dog from the SPCA before. We only had him for a month and he had to go back because he bit another dog. They kept us on the books and said when they got another dog they would give us a call."

The SPCA called Mr. Wills and Mr. Ratcliffe as soon as Max came into the shelter. Before that he'd spent a week with the Government dog warden.

"He was found wandering," said Mr. Wills. "He didn't have a collar or a chip. We had a look at him on the Friday and then picked him up on the following Wednesday. He was very scruffy the first time we saw him."

Max is currently undergoing intermediate obedience training and loves squeaky toys.

"He is our own little power plant," said Mr. Ratcliffe. "He can go 24-7 and never tire. He just runs and runs. When we first picked him up he was about 12 months old. When he sees other dogs he just wants to play."

Last year, at the annual SPCA animal expo, Max received an award for being the life of the party.

This is Mr. Wills first dog, and he admitted the amount of responsibility was a bit of a shock at first.

"I always wanted a dog," he said. "It was a little bit of a surprise how much responsibility it was. When Ian has to work straight through I have to drive all the way home to let the dog out. He has an average of three good walks a day. Probably an hour and a half of exercise. He is mouthy at the moment, which we are trying to address."

Mr. Ratcliffe said Max is like their child. "Only, he doesn't answer back," he said.

Mr. Ratcliffe, Mr. Wills and Max hope to take part in the walk on Sunday.

Separate bathrooms are the secret to a happy relationship.

Bridget Jardine

Love can make you do crazy things, even turn your laundry room into a swanky cat resort.

Bridget Jardine's three black and white cats, Oliver, Harvey and Arthur were adopted from the SPCA in December. Now they're living the high life. They have their own individual beds, their own litter boxes, entertainment and their own laundry facilities, should they ever figure out how to turn the washing machine dials.

"Originally, we had beds in large cardboard boxes, but it was a bit unsightly and took up too much room in there," said Mrs. Jardine. "So my husband has built sectioned sleeping cubicles for the beds and similarly underneath, the partitioned litter trays.

"The house feels like kitty-city at the moment, especially the laundry room, which is adorned with a variety of toys, a scratching post and an open, brown grocery bag on the floor. They love to play in that, although I soon realised that it was necessary to break the handles before letting them play, as Oliver got his head through one of the handles and ran around in a panic as the bag chased around behind him."

When the Jardines adopted the cats, Oliver was just nine months old, Harvey was two years old and Arthur was ten.

"Each cat has his own personality and is a real character in his own way," said Mrs. Jardine. "Oliver reminds me of what it is like having a two-year-old in the home again, except that he can leap to places that are out of bounds which, being a cat obviously renders safety gates out of the question.

"Arthur is a very talkative old gent who loves nothing better than to find a lap to sit on where he'll show his appreciation by 'making puddings' or kneading."

Unfortunately, Arthur, 'the old man' sometimes gets caught up in the 'younguns' play. One day he almost got knocked down the stairs during a kitty stampede between the other two.

"He has lately joined in a few times, but retreats to a lap when it all gets too overwhelming," said Mrs. Jardine. "He is a lovely cat and when we saw him at the SPCA, we decided, in view of his more senior years, that we wanted to provide him with a comfortable home in which to live out the rest of his days."

Don't be afraid to love again.

Peggy Couper.

For Peggy Couper, her new kitten Tesouro filled a hole left in her family caused by tragedy.

"We had just lost a cat who had been killed by a dog," said Mrs. Couper. "We were very upset."

Mrs. Couper decided to get another cat right away. She had a 12-year-old dog, and she didn't want her to get used to not having cats around.

"We have always had cats and dogs together," Mrs. Couper said. "We didn't want to let the chain break."

Mrs. Couper volunteers at the SPCA once a week, walking dogs. When she lost her cat, she asked her friends at the SPCA to find her a great little kitten.

"They said they didn't have a baby, but they did have a six-month-old in the form of Tesouro. They said he was great because he was very mellow and relaxed."

Bonding between the Coupers and Tesouro was instantaneous. "He is great," said Mrs. Couper. "You can carry him around. You can hold him upside down and he doesn't care. For a little while I was his tree. He just wanted to be draped over my arm. He is very cute and very affectionate."

The dog and the new cat are already learning to get along. The dog wags her tail whenever she sees the cat.

"At first there was a little bit of stand-off to check each other out," Mrs. Couper said. "The cat got comfortable after about a month. This little cat is so curious. He is just into everything.

"Yesterday, I was taking some stuff out of the cupboard to make salad dressing. The cat immediately went into the cupboard to see what's in there. There were some measuring cups and Pyrex in there. Just at that moment my daughter and her boyfriend arrived. The dog barked once. The cat bolted out of the cupboard, there was an almighty crash. Measuring cups went shattering on the floor. My daughter was like 'what a welcome'."

Don't let your significant others steal all the bed clothes.

While many people are hesitant to adopt pit bull crosses, teacher Linda Hines had no reservations.

She has a two-year-old pit bull cross named Lucky and a four-month-old called Peanut, both adopted from the SPCA.

"I wasn't nervous about adopting a pit bull cross, because people keep telling me, it is always the owner that determines how the animal turns out," said Ms Hines. "I have found they are very friendly. We did the puppy socialisation class with Jane Taylor. That really made a difference because we were able to get him socialised with other animals.

She decided to get Lucky, because her 11-year-old daughter, Jaylynn always wanted a dog. "The SPCA called and said they had a litter which they confiscated from someone," said Ms Hines. "We went up there and there were ten puppies running around."

A short time later, they heard that the SPCA had another puppy up for adoption and Peanut came into their lives. Now both Peanut and Lucky sleep with Jaylynn at night, taking up most of the space in the bed.

She said the dogs gave the family a reason to get out into the fresh air.

"We take them for walks and to the park," said Ms Hines. "It gets the children outside. The other day we took the dogs swimming for the first time. They loved it and jumped right in."

The Hines family also plan to take part in the upcoming SPCA walk. It will be their second.

"Last year, Lucky won the 'most like owner' award," Ms Hines. "They thought she looked just like my daughter. I don't know what they meant by that, but we still have the medal."

Whisper sweet nothings.

Roslyn Kneeland

Roslyn Kneeland and her daughter Natacha, 15, went in to the SPCA to get one cat, and came out with two.

"My daughter was volunteering at the SPCA and fell in love with Danny," said Ms Kneeland. "So when we went to get Danny, I was looking at the other cats. Gi walked out and just flopped down in front of me, and I couldn't leave him, so I ended up with two."

Thanks to Gi's snappy pick-up, Danny, 1, and Gi, 8, went home with the Kneelands that day.

"We wanted an older cat, because everyone goes for kittens," said Ms Kneeland. "We thought, 'let's try and take an older cat'. I was thinking if one was there for sometime to take that one, but my daughter had her heart set on Danny."

The two cats are now well-ensconced in the Kneeland household and hearts.

"They are a complete addition to the family," Ms Kneeland said. "You can't go anywhere in the house without them being right there. They follow you. They just want to be around you. We get comedy because they crack us up when they are playing."

Ms Kneeland thinks that Danny and Gi may have been with the same people before coming to live with her family. They are both declawed.

"That is why we took them," Ms Kneeland said. "A lot of people like their cats to go outdoors in Bermuda. I thought maybe these cats wouldn't be adopted out as fast if we didn't adopt them.

"They are completely indoor cats. I think that they are almost more affectionate because they have done their highstrung playful stage. They are quite happy to get on your lap and lay down and sleep. Whereas kittens are always climbing your legs or the curtains."

She said Danny felt comfortable in the house right away, but it took Gi a little longer.

"Gi was four or five days before he just took over," she said. "The two cats are very close.

They lay on the bed together. If one leaves the bed, the other will go."

She said she particularly enjoys having conversations with her cats, particularly Gi.

"I will say, aren't you a beautiful boy? He will roll over and suck it up, like 'yes, I am.' They talk back to you. They give you a little conversation."