Final Project
America’s top dog: how the most popular breeds have changed over time
Each year, Americans purchase nearly 1 million purebred dogs, ranging from the 34-inch tall Great Dane to the 6-pound Affenpinscher. These dogs are registered through the American Kennel Club (AKC), which categorizes and tallies up the totals of more than 150 breeds.
I was able to dig up a dataset of these registrations going back 80 years — and what I found shows that Americans’ taste in dogs has dramatically changed over time. Unfortunately only the last 4 years were digitally archived, so 2013–2016 are included in my Tableau story.
I organized my data by breed and rank over four years (2013–2016) using the story type ‘change over time’. This best illustrates our ever changing taste in dog breeds.
Through reviewing the AKC’s archives, I found that throughout the ’30s, ’40s, and early ’50s, the cocker spaniel topped the list, trumping terriers, collies, and beagles. After a brief peak by the beagle from 1954 to 1959, the poodle ruled the top spot for more than two decades — and the German shepherd rose to prominence as runner-up.
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In 1991, the Labrador retriever became the most popular dog — and for the past 25 years it has retained its throne. The cocker spaniel, once America’s top dog, ranks a mere 29th today.
Why do dog breeds become popular?
Over 80 years, Americans’ taste in dog breeds has entirely changed. Only one dog in the top five in 1934 — the beagle — still remains in the top five today. For many years, smaller dogs were popular; today, medium to large dogs overwhelm the list.
So, what can explain these trends? Why do certain breeds become popular in the first place?
In a 2014 study, Dog Movie Stars and Dog Breed Popularity: A Case Study in Media Influence on Choice, researcher Stefano Ghirlanda suggests that pop culture — particularly movies that star dogs — largely impacts dog owners’ breed preferences.
Around 1944, we see a rise in collies. This correlates with the popularity of the Lassie movie series (1943 to 1951), which starred a heroic, life-saving collie.
Likewise, Homeward Bound (1993), and Air Bud (1997) seem to coincide with the rise in popularity of Labrador and golden retrievers. Though not visible in the top five, Dalmatians experienced a boost following the release of 101 Dalmatians in 1961 and the re-release in 1996.
This is not, however, a complete picture of the state of dog ownership in America. The American Kennel Club deals with purebreds, not the mutts that are also so popular. The ratio of mutts to purebred dogs isn’t clear, but the Humane Society estimates that one-fifth of pet dogs came from shelters; some estimates have the two groups about even.
The point being that, as pure-breeds vie for the most coveted #1 position in the charts, mutts are not represented in this study; meaning that by next year, we could have a new top dog in the game.
