The Labrador retrieverâs 31-year streak as Americaâs favorite dog breed has finally come to an end at the handsâor paws, ratherâof the French bulldog .
Each year, the American Kennel Club (AKC) analyzes its registration data to rank breeds by popularity. Frenchies have been a recognized breed since 1898, and theyâve recently become quite the fad; according to AKC, registrations have skyrocketed by more than 1000 percent in the last decade. It was enough to land them in second place on last yearâs list, and now theyâve finally unseated the reigning champ.
The Labrador didnât fall far, thoughâitâs now the runner-up, with golden retrievers , German shepherds , and poodles rounding out the top five. All in all, the most popular breeds are pretty much what youâd expect. But there are some surprises farther down the list. For one thing, a couple newly recognized breeds are there for the first time. In 150th place is the Mudi , a rare Hungarian hunting dog; and six spots ahead of it is the Chihuahua -like Russian toy .
The AKC also pointed out a few breeds that made impressive leaps from one spot to another. American hairless terriers, for example, went from 135th to 120th; Gordon setters climbed from 113th to 99th; Italian greyhounds from 73rd to 63rd; and Anatolian shepherds from 88th to 79th. Could one of these trending breeds overtake French bulldogs in 31 years? Only time will tell.
Foxhounds, on the other hand, donât seem to be very trendy: English foxhounds came in dead lastâ199th placeâand American foxhounds outpaced them by only three spots. Those werenât the only two kinds of hounds in the bottom 10. You can see the rest below, along with the top 10, and check out AKCâs complete rankings here .
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