I JUST went through this with my BF.
He is a cat's man. Plain and simple. He hates dogs (they smell, bark, yip, bite, jump, cry, smell, bark, smell... his words!) and was pushed down by one when he was 4 years old. He was even afraid of my mom's chihuahua who is not a barker or yipper or biter, lol.
He eventually became "tolerant" of my folks' dogs but every time I mentioned I wanted one, he freaked out.
But then I had it. I HAD to have one. "It's me or the dog," was his response. So after he threw a little tantrum "I thought you knew me" (lol) and waited for him to calm down a bit, I, very calmly, explained that there is something about a dog's companionship that I cannot get from him, from my friends, or from our cat (who does, incidentally, think he is a dog). Dogs only smell if they are not kept. I referred him back to our cat who was awful when we adopted him.
Dogs typically only bite, bark, jump if they are not trained and are allowed to continue to do this. He calmed down and once he realized just how much a dog meant to me, he agreed to go look at them. And, low and behold, once we were there just to look, he said "I like him. If you want him, you can get him."
That was 12 days ago (15 including the convincing). He went from fearing dogs to kissing Zeus on his face, letting him jump on him and taking him out for walks/runs.
That was my story. It really just depends on your guy.
Maybe if you explain to him that you are lonely and making girlfriends takes a lot of time, and having a puppy can progress that faster (small dog play dates at your local dog park is great! Or even a Yorkie Club in your area
). And then you'll always have someone at home with you when they are out doing the guy thing.
Making it about "you" instead of "him" might help.
Good luck to you!