March 19, 2023 - The French Bulldog is the No. 1 most popular dog breed in the U.S.
For the first time in 31 years, the Labrador Retriever is not the most popular AKC purebred dog in the United States.
An AKC press release this month announced that the French Bulldog is now the most popular purebred dog breed in the United States. The Frenchies have been climbing the ladder of popularity for quite some time, and this marks the first time the top spot doesn’t belong to the Lab since 1990. (That was a long time ago – some of the top songs at the time were How Am I Supposed To Live Without You, by Michael Bolton; Blame It On The Rain, by Milli Vanilli; and Pump Up The Jam, by Techtronic. You gotta click on those links to see the videos. Lol.)
So why the shift?
We freely admit that the Frenchies have gained popularity over the past 20 years. But I think there’s something more to this story. Consider this: In 2021, Rover.com released their own rankings of the most popular dogs in the United States. But these rankings were different – they included mixed breeds. Take a look below at how the Rover rankings differend from the AKC rankings.
- Labrador Retriever
- French Bulldog
- Golden Retriever
- German Shepherd
- Poodle
- Bulldog
- Beagle
- Rottweiler
- German Shorthaired Pointer
- Dachschund
- Mixed Breeds
- Labrador Retriever
- Goldendoodle
- Golden Retriever
- German Shepherd
- Australian Shepherd
- French Bulldog
- Siberian Husky
- Labradoodle
- American Pit Bull Terrier
(Bernedoodle was 12)
So while I'll concede that the Frenchies have indeed become more popular, there's something else happening here. DOODLES.
Look at what happens to the list when Rover.com includes mixed breeds. Ranked number is the generic “mixed breed” dog, which of course could include any Doodle. Then you have Goldendoodle at #3 and Labradoodle at #9.
I noticed about 5 years ago that many former retriever owners were saying things like “I LOVED my Lab, but I don’t want the shedding this time.” The Doodle was becoming the new “go to” family dog.
So I’d suggest that not only are Frenchies gaining popularity, but it’s also reasonable to assume that the growing popularity of Goldendoodles and Labradoodles is whittling away at the popularity of their purebred ancestor breeds.
How about a little data to support the theory? (A 5 second Google search...what an amazing world we now live in...)
The research also found that doodle popularity has apparently come at the expense of purebreds. From 2013 to 2021, goldendoodles alone have more than tripled their percentage among Nationwide’s policies, while the percentage of poodles and labrador retrievers dropped by nearly a third.
Take a look at the screenshot above (taken from petsplusmag.com.) It seems obvious that the growing popularity of the Doodles has taken a toll on the popularity of their purebred cousins.
In conclusion...
…CONGRATS to the French Bulldogs for becoming the new most popular AKC dog breed, but the Frenchy fans out there should be sending a big thank you to all the Doodle owners!
And if the truth were known, I bet the real #1 is a Doodle. (wink) We’ll see what Rover.com says here in a few years.
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