As I noted in an earlier post, there are approximately 75 million dogs in the U.S.
Every year about 7 million new dogs are acquired in the U.S. to replace those that die from disease, old age or accident.
Of these 7 million new dogs, approximately 53 percent are crossbreeds or mongrels, and approximately 47 percent are "pure breeds".
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| More than half of all U.S. dogs are mixed breeds. |
To put a number on it, that works out to be approximately 3,710,000 dogs of mixed ancestry, and approximately 3,290,000 dogs that are pure breeds.
In 2014, to pick a year, the American Kennel Club registered less that 500,000 pure bred dogs (the number may be less than 400,000).
To put it another way, AKC registrations represented about 15 percent of pure bred dogs and about 7 percent of all dogs acquired that year. Since 2006, the AKC has not, so far as I can tell, published counts by breed.
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| About a quarter of pure breed dogs are AKC-registered |
Assuming the same canine distribution as was evident in 2006 when breed count data was last reported, of the less than 500,000 pure bred dogs registered by the AKC in 2014, the top 10 breeds (out of 184 breeds total in 2015) will represent a little over half of all dogs registered, while the bottom 50 breeds will represent less than 1.5 percent of all dogs registered.
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| More than half of all AKC dogs are in the top 10 breeds. The bottom 50 breeds sum to 1.2 percent of AKC-registered dogs. |
Top Ten AKC Breeds in 2014
4 comments:
So where do the other purebred dogs come from if only a minor percentage are AKC registered? Is this a good thing or are these remaining purebreds also inbred freaks?
Besides the AKC, there is a long line of breed-specific registries such as the JRTCA, type-specific registries such as American Field, and a file drawer of many- and all-breed registries ranging from the United Kennel Club (UKC) to the American Rare Breed Association, the Canadian Kennel Club, the Continental Kennel Club, the World Wide Kennel Club, the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI), the International Progressive Dog Breeders Alliance, the National Kennel Club, the Animal Research Foundation, etc.
Most "pure bred" dogs are single-litter dogs bred at home for family and friends, and many are unregistered labs of one kind or another. Paper is just paper. If KC paper with thinner, more dog owners could find a use for it.
Do the breed-specific registries outside the AKC contribute as much to the general denigration of dog types (inbreeding, genteic diseases etc.etc.) as the AKC? I know you've said that most real hunters who use dogs don't use aKC pointers or retrievers but what about a backyard lab with no papers- any chance for more cross-breeding and health? Thanks for the info- the AKC for me stands in for much of what I hate- the mendacity- the made up history, the disguised harm...
Cross breeding does not guarantee improved health; it should increase the odds of better health but that would depended upon the prevalence of genetic mutations in the dogs being crossed (especially since many mutations are carried in several breed associated gene pools).
It is difficult to assess the changes in health from generation to generation when there is no documentation of heritage.
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