Doggy demographics

August 3, 2006 1:52 AM

Been thinking about the relationship between dog and human and am interested to find out more about demographic and evolutionary trends in dog ownership and breeds...

Who owns dogs these days? Is dog/cat ownership replacing children amongst the "educated" sectors? What sort of people own which breeds? Where is dog ownership most pervasive? What about blood lines - are mutts more becoming more popular than purebreds? Which breeds are becoming more popular and which ones are dying out?

Where can research about this sort of thing be found?

posted by zaebiz to pets & animals (8 comments total)

Iwould assume the Kennel Club of America (or the relevant authority in your country) keeps data about this.
posted by PenDevil at 3:59 AM on August 3, 2006

Anecdotally or research only?

Anecdotally, at least here in Portland, the Pug is the dog of the moment, and many of my demographic (early-mid 30s, professional, city-dwellers) do have dogs, not kids. But I am not sure if that's a "replacement" so much as a "placeholder," as people have much later.
posted by miss tea at 5:09 AM on August 3, 2006

Try contacting the ASPCA

Large animal welfare organisations often keep data on types/breeds handed over to them, abandoned, rescued and from which areas etc. They may be able to give you some of this data, which might indicate certain trends.

Universities running research programs in sociology and psychology may also have access to the information you need. Be prepared to have to hassle for it, research findings are often jealously guarded!

Another thought, petfood manufacturers such as Pedigree, Hills & Iams will have carried out much market research and some of this information may willingly given.
posted by Arqa at 6:13 AM on August 3, 2006

For AKC purebreds, you can find dog registration statistics on the AKC website here. Note that these are only dogs that are registered with the AKC. Mutts and unregistered purebreds are not counted here. (For example, there are a lot more than 142 greyhounds born annually, but racing hounds are registered with the National Greyhound Association, not the AKC.)

This is a neat page with top ten dog breeds for the top 50 cities in the US.
posted by misskaz at 6:20 AM on August 3, 2006

This article says that poodles and cocker spaniels were the most popular breeds before labs, and speculates that labs' growing popularity has something to do with the growing size of the average American house.
posted by needs more cowbell at 7:11 AM on August 3, 2006

Anecdotal evidence around here indicates "designer" breeds like the labradoodle (lab-poodle mix) and the cockapoo (cocker-poodle mix) are becoming more and more popular.

Rescue organizations can be sources of info on this, but the kinds of dogs they see in general are the ones that were popular at some point in the recent past (a year? 6 months?) and now are filtering down into the homeless dog population (see above about the designer mixes), or have consistently been popular for years (labs, pit bulls).
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:50 AM on August 3, 2006

Where can research about this sort of thing be found?

AVMA's U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, for one.

Who owns dogs these days?

About 40% of US households.

What sort of people own which breeds?

I just bet that any associations or correlations are pretty mild. Lots of kinds of people own lots of kinds of dogs.

Which breeds are becoming more popular and which ones are dying out?

If you want percentage growth or decline, the answer on both sides will be some sort of rare breed. Check ARBA statistics, maybe.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:08 AM on August 3, 2006

The Society and Animals Forum collects a lot of doggy research. You can have papers sent to your local library or pay for copies. Their collection includes my friend's dissertation on the domestican of the dog, done in comic book form. It's under "Lovata, Troy".
posted by hydrophonic at 11:40 AM on August 3, 2006