What makes certain dogs popular in certain countries
Why a starring film role matters for particular breeds of dog
“Every dog must have his day,” wrote Jonathan Swift. And yet some seem to have more days in the sun than others. Breeds spring in and out of fashion. And stereotypes are not always right: the French demonstrate a striking preference for the Australian shepherd over the poodle, the country’s national dog.
Pure-breed puppies are certified by national kennel clubs to make sure they meet certain ancestral and aesthetic requirements. To determine what shapes tastes, The Economist examined historical data on 86m dog breed registrations in nine countries: America, Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and Sweden.
Some countries are particularly nationalistic in their choices. Breeds of German origin represented 83% of registrations in the top ten breeds in Germany over the past ten years compared with 33% on average in the other eight countries. Colonialism seems to leave a mark: New Zealand and South Africa disproportionately favour British dogs. And nationalism can interact with history. German shepherds were co-opted as emblems of Germany in first world war propaganda, which torpedoed their popularity in America and the rest of Europe.
Elsewhere practicality carries more weight. In Japan, three breeds—the toy poodle, the chihuahua and the dachshund, none of them Japanese—account for 50% of registrations over the past ten years. They are, however, all small, useful in a densely populated country filled with tiny apartments.
Most popular breeds
Breeds that make up 50% of dog registrations, 2011-21
Breed origin
Germany
Britain
Nordic countries
Other, mixed or indistinct
Germany
America
Britain
Finland
Japan
South Africa
*99% of poodles registered in Japan were toy poodles.
Some countries’ tastes are more fickle, driven by fads and cultural capital. Winning the American Kennel Club’s Westminster dog show is a reliable driver of popularity: it increases the odds of a new puppy registration of that breed in a country by, on average, 67% in the year the breed wins, and by 93% two years later. But it is far from the only thing that can shift the public’s dog-buying habits.
100 years of popular dogs in America
Breeds that made the top three
On-screen appearances can transform the public’s preferences. A positive starring role in an American film increased the odds of registering a new puppy of the same breed by 119% in the year the movie was released, rising to a peak of 176% higher two years later. In seven of the nine countries, such releases led to a statistically significant bump (Japan and South Africa seem sniffy about American pop culture). Repeated performances by Labradors in films such as “Marley and Me” may have helped the breed hold the number one spot in America for the past 31 years.
Germany’s efforts to promote the German shepherd as a symbol of national unity during the first world war trashed the breed’s popularity in America. But in 1918 Rin Tin Tin, a German shepherd puppy saved by an American GI on a battlefield in France, raced to the rescue. Rin Tin Tin starred in 27 American films from 1922 to 1931. He dug Warner Bros out of a financial hole and German shepherds bounded to the top spot between 1926 and 1928.
Beagles were beloved in America by the 1940s. Norman Rockwell frequently included them in his idealised portraits of American family life. Then on October 4th 1950 one particularly endearing, if lazy, beagle made his debut in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip. By 1953 Snoopy had propelled beagles to the position of top dog in the AKC charts, where they remained until 1959, loping past the long-reigning cocker spaniel.
The French writer Colette likened the visage of her beloved French bulldog to that of a frog that had been sat upon. The breed’s popularity, nonetheless, is soaring. In 1966 the breed made up just 0.006% of AKC registrations; by 2021 it had sprung up the rankings to seize the number-two spot. Frenchies can thank celebrities such as Reese Witherspoon and Lady Gaga who post selfies with their pets for their new following.
Explore dog breed fashions in America over the last century: hover over or tap on the streams in the chart below to reveal the breeds.
Across the countries we analysed, some patterns leap out from the past decade of dog registrations. A small number of breeds make up an overwhelming share of registrations. Compare that to Sweden where the top ten breeds barely cover 30% of registered dogs. The Rottweiler is an international favourite, making the top ten in five countries, but it is most popular in South Africa. Labradors reign not just in America, but in four other countries. Only in space-conscious Japan do they fail to make the top ten; their popularity is still on the rise in the Nordic countries. Top dog.
Breeds that made the top ten, 2011-21
Share of registrations, ordered by rank
No data
Finland
Sweden
Germany
France
New Zealand
South Africa
America
Britain
Japan
Note: Different countries don’t always agree on if a dog qualifies as a breed, how to differentiate between related breeds and which are mere varieties or distinct breeds. And countries sometimes call the same breeds by different names. The same country may even spell names in more than one way, depending on the year. For this piece, we cleaned the data to make it consistent across countries and time as much as possible, while still leaving distinctions where they are important.
Sources: American Kennel Club; Box Office Mojo; Centrale Caniche; Encyclopedia Britannica; German Kennel Club (VDH); Finnish Kennel Club (Kennelliitto); IMDb; Japan Kennel Club; KUSA Kennel Union of Southern Africa; New Zealand Kennel Club; Rotten Tomatoes; Swedish Kennel Club (Svenska KennelKlubben); The Kennel Club; Westminster Kennel Club; Dog movie stars and dog breed popularity (data) by Stefano Ghirlanda, Alberto Acerbi, and Harold Herzog, PLoS ONE, 2014; thesmartcanine.com/canadian-dogs; The Economist
Illustrations: Stephen Cheetham