Counting Dog Noses

Data on U.S. dog demographics is somewhat squishy, and yet we know quite a lot.

Let's start with the total population of dogs in America. We don't have an exact number, but surveys park the number at about 90 million, which means "the replacement market" for canine mortality is going to be around 9 to 10 million dogs a year.

The American Kennel Club registers less than 600,000 dogs a year, arrayed out over a total of over 197 breeds.

Of all AKC dogs registered, more than half fall within the top 10 breeds, while the bottom 50 AKC breeds total less than 1.5 percent of all AKC dogs registered (which is only about 6.5 percent of all dogs acquired every year). 

What other data do we have?

Well, we know where people get their dogs from. About 34 percent of dogs came from friends or neighbors, 26 percent come from animal shelters, 5 percent are found as strays, 3 percent come from a rescue, 2 percent come from a family member, and 2 percent are pups born to another dog in the house. Only 22 percent of dogs are reported to have come from a "small local breeder," with 7 percent from a pet store, and 3 percent from "the Internet".

A full 52 percent of folks have no idea where their dog lived as a puppy, signaling that MOST dogs are bounced about and do not end up with their original "puppy owner". Another 4 percent of puppies had come from an animal shelter, and 2 percent were found on the street as a stray. In short, 58 percent of all dogs started off life in a precarious or interrupted ownership situation, with about half of these dogs passing through an animal shelter.