Although technically yesterday was National Dog Day, approximately 63.4 million households in the United States have at least one pup, thus making every day Dog Day! Therefore to continue our celebration, here are some fun facts about dogs.
According to the 2019/2020 National Pet Owners Survey there are 89.7 million dogs in the United States. But sorry pups, although fewer households include cats, they still outnumber us at 94.2 million. Of those millions of dogs, according to the 2020 American Kennel Club registration statistics, for the 30th year in a row the Labrador Retriever remains the most popular breed. This is followed by French Bulldogs, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Bulldogs rounding out the top 5. The rarest dog on the planet are the Norwegian Lundehunds, which were bred to scale the rocky cliffs of the Norwegian coast in search of puffins, and have the very unique ability to swivel it’s flexible neck to touch its spine! To see the full list of popular dog breeds, visit the AKC.org.
Scientists theorize that dogs were domesticated approximately 20,000 to 40,000 years ago from wolves. The oldest known dog breed is the Akita Inu, which evidence suggest first existed between 8,000 BC to 200 BC in Japan. Today there are over 350 dog breeds in the world. However the AKC only acknowledges 197 breeds, due to their distinct, identifiable criteria for breed standards. The nine original “charter breeds” mostly included hunting dogs popular in 1878, including the Pointer, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Clumber Spaniel, Cocker Spaniel, Sussex Spaniel, Irish Water Spaniel, Irish Setter, English Setter, and Gordon Setter. Despite being bred in 1868 in Scotland, the Golden Retriever wasn’t recognized by the AKC until 1925. The newest breed to be recognized by the AKC is the Biewer Terrier in 2021.
Speaking of pure breeds, the Humane Society of the United States found that 25% of dogs in shelters are purebreds. According to their survey in 2019 there are about 3,500 brick-and-mortar animal shelters in the US and 10,000 rescue groups and animal sanctuaries in North America. Of that the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) estimates that 3.3 million dogs enter animal shelters each year. In 2020, 1.6 million dogs were adopted from shelters and rescue organizations, and an estimated 620,000 stray dogs were reunited with their owners.
Whether adopted from a shelter or a breeder, dogs play an important role in their family. So it is little wonder that humans love to share our stories. A 2017 survey by BarkBox found that adult dog owners post a picture or talk about their dog on social media six times per week, and one in ten have a social media account exclusively for their dog. These statistics have no doubt increased since 2017. In fact a 2021 study by Elizabeth Johnson and Shelly Volsche, found that during the pandemic “most people agreed with statements such as ‘I tell more stories from my pet’s perspective on social media’ and ‘I am sharing more posts about my pet on social media than before.'” Which is odd because everyone knows dogs control their own social media posts!
However, to get back to our earlier stats on dogs versus cats, David Mitroff, CEO and founder of Piedmont Avenue Consulting, found that “On Instagram, the hashtag #dog comes up nearly 120 million times and #cat comes up nearly 104 million times; #puppy comes up more than 61 million times versus #kitten which comes up nearly 22 million times.” Therefore proving that National Dog Day isn’t just one day a year, it’s every day for households across the country!
