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Previously Dog Walkers Melbourne has explored the online Dog world in Australia, America and UK in detail. However dogs are obviously a global phenomena, so in this article we look at globally what people are searching for in dogs.

The following table lists some of the major developed and developing countries in the world and their top five terms they search for related to Dogs, for October 2010.

The number in brackets next to the country name shows how many terms out of a possible 800 that Google displays for a country. This is a good indication of how developed the dogs market is in a particular county. You will notice that UK is the only country that Google lists a full 800 terms for, where as other major developed countries of a similar size (Germany) only list 213 terms related to dogs.

Global Top five Dog associated terms and their search volume

Country DOG search term analysis

The first four countries UK, America, Australia and Canada are four of the most developed dog market countries. That is, they have high search term numbers (Search volume relative to population). More detailed analysis of the top three countries is shown in a previous Dogs America, UK, Australia report.

Large developing Country Dog markets

China (population of 1,341,230,000), India (1,191,560,000) and Brazil (190,732,694) are the three most populous countries analyzed. These countries are developing nations and wealth is not evenly distributed, but even with this hindrance, India is shown to be a relatively strong market compared to the other two with its top term ‘dogs’ having 40,500 searches a month.

While the leading developed nations have generic search terms such as ‘dogs’, ‘dog breeds’ and ‘dog names’ that all seem related to buying dogs, the developing nations dogs related searches are more niche. That is, their top 5 terms are not all related to dog purchasing decisions but are terms that are usually much further down the search list for developing nations. For example in China the second and third terms are ‘Dog clothes’ (880 searches) and ‘dog tags’ (590). India’s top term, like china is ‘dogs’, however two of the top five terms are ‘dog pictures’ (18,100) and ‘pictures of dogs’ (6,600).

Mexico is a fascinating case for its people’s love of dogs as well as its use of search terms. While ‘dogs’ remains the top term, Mexico as the original home of Cesar Millan has the term ‘dog whisperer’ rate in its top five searches. You will also note that like some other countries, a specific dog breed is now regularly rating in the top five searches. While in Russia and Brazil ‘bernese mountain dog’ is the top term, in Japan ‘hound dog’ comes in at number two, and in Mexico the ‘bull dog’ is regularly the second highest searched term.

Another reason for these countries lower than expected interest in searching for information on dogs is likely to be the issue of stray dogs and the continued eating of dog flesh.  http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/07/13/india-to-sterilize-8-million-stray-dogs/ A 2009 report says that “ It is estimated that each year over 20,000 people die of rabies in India while at the same time over four billion rupees (close to 80m USD) worth of vaccines against rabies are being imported by the country every year. Also it is still common in parts of china to eat ‘stray’ dogs, even though the ‘rich’ are believed to be keeping pure breed dogs as pets in increasing numbers. In 2009 “Beijing has more than 120 restaurants serving dog meat”

Brazil has only 53 terms and its top two terms are ‘bernese mountain dog’ (2,400) and ‘dog show’ (2,400). Very heartening is that its fifth term is about looking after dogs: ‘dog walker’ (1,300).

European dog markets

Germany (213 terms), France (137) and Italy (100) dog searches are analyzed. Curiously for these very developed and fairly populous countries, the term numbers and volumes are relatively low. Germany’s top term like most countries is ‘dogs’ (8,100) however two of its five top terms are ‘dog tag’ related (2,900 and 2,400 searches). ‘Barking dogs’ concerns are also high on their list of information searches coming in at number five and 1,000 searches per month.

France while situated next to Germany has a different focus on its searches. France’s top dog related search is a very humane ‘dog pound’ (18,100). The second term is for ‘dog de bordeaux’ (or the French Mastiff breed) with 2,900 searches and ‘dog sitting’ (1,600). Italy only has 100 search terms but has the caring number one term of ‘dog sitter’ (2,400). Number three term ‘bull dog’ (1,300) shows that this breed is popular in Italy. This country is rare for being the only country so far analysed that has two television show search queries in the top five dog related search requests: a nod to the master dog rehabilitator Cesar Millan with ‘dog whisper’ (1,000) coming in at four and ‘dogs 101’ a dog TV program on ‘Animal planet’ ranking five with 480 searches.

Ireland while having a low population rates only second to the UK in dog search popularity on a ‘per capita’ basis (see graph below). Ireland like UK also shows a very humane dog search trend with Ireland’s second, fourth and fifth terms being dogs trust (6,600); ‘dogs in distress’ (4,400) and ‘dogs trust Ireland’ (3,600).

Under performing Dog countries

Russia with a population of 142 million should have a dog associated search similar to Brazil but it has even less interest in searching on information about these noble animals. With only 39 search terms its prime term ‘bernese mountain dogs’ (1,600) outperforms the generic term ‘dogs’ (1,300). Like Brazil and Germany people in Russia also search for ‘cats and dogs’ together (720). The next two terms are the humane ‘dog pound’ (390) then a brand of dog food at 320 searches.

Israel (38 terms) has ‘dogs’ as its major term (1,900) however except for the popularity of Cesar’s ‘dog whisperer’ (480) three of the top five terms are dog disease related! ‘Frontline plus for dogs’ (1,300); ‘lyme disease in dogs’ (720) and ‘ticks on dogs’ (480).

Japan is the most developed Asian country but with a population of 127 million they only have 27,000 adjusted dog searches across 35 terms! Japan mostly searches for the generic ‘dog’ (2,400) then ‘ hound dog’ (1,600); ‘the dog’ (720), ’dog food’ (590) and ‘i dog’ (a robot toy) with 480 monthly searches.

Global Dog e-matrix comparison

The detailed information on the top five terms in major countries above is best put into some order by comparing them on the graph below. This graph is used to compare countries on a per capita basis of wealth versus a per capita search value. That means dividing the adjusted dog associated search terms on Google, by the country’s population. Specifically the e-matrix dog graph was created using the following calculations:

X axis = Number of monthly adjusted dog associated searches divided by country population.

Adjusted dog searches = raw monthly ‘dog associated’ exact Google searches’ x ( 1/ internet penetration) x (1/Google market share).  The last two modifiers adjust raw searches so that they are independent of computer access and the browser (how popular the Google search engine market share is in a specific country).

Y axis = Wealth per capita. (as per Wikipedia IMF values)

Sphere size = adjusted search volume relative to the largest dog search country, America.

While not a perfect model (not all spheres lie exactly on the logarithmic trend line) the graph goes some way to explaining globally people’s interest in dogs.

The calculation process for finding ‘adjusted searches’ normalizes all values so that they can be evenly compared with each other. Dividing this value by the population provides online search interest on a ‘per capita basis’. The graph clearly suggests that the UK and Ireland are the two countries most interested in finding out information on dogs. The likelihood of this because the UK is one of the oldest, longest developed countries, has a reasonable wealth distribution and many breeds were created here. Culturally both UK and Ireland have a strong bond with dogs and because they have enough wealth to look after these animals (vets and food bills), their dog online search behavior is also high.

Curiously the next highest per capita dog search countries are the developed countries of Australia, America and Canada. While they are developed, they also have the space to keep an array of different sized dogs and are culturally connected (settled) from the UK – well parts of Canada are English speaking.

Potentially this explains why the advanced European countries of Germany, France and Italy have relatively low per capita dog search online. While again many breeds were created in these countries and culturally it has been thought that these countries have a strong interest in dogs, the search volumes suggest otherwise. The difference between the leading dog search countries and the European countries is that they do not speak English as a first language, and size wise the city high development may not allow much room to keep dogs. Note that the fifth term in Germany is searches for information on ‘barking dogs’.  This could suggest further issues with keeping dogs in high density housing.

Japan and China have very low search numbers (relative to their wealth and development). It is an irony that a previous article referenced a science paper that considers that China is very likely the birth place of the domestic dog.

Israel achieves slightly beyond the trend-line expectations with a search level per capita above France and Italy. It is thought that the westernization and ties with America may have boosted Israel’s interest in dogs (a dog obsessed culture). Dogs in this country may also be kept more for practical security reasons.

Dogs e-matrix data table, Oct 2010

The table is the data used for the previous graph. It shows that America and UK both in adjusted searches per month and adjusted searches per population make these two of the leading global dog search countries.

CONCLUSION

Interest and love of dogs is foremost a cultural issue. Regardless of the wealth and development of a country, a countries people must love and respect dogs to have them as pets.

Even with the adjustment of raw search information for developing countries such as India, China and Brazil, the ‘wealth per capita’ value keeps a cap on the citizen’s interest in dogs. If you can’t afford to keep a dog (food and vet bills) you may occasionally feed a stray dog, but you are unlikely to have such high involvement as to learn more about them, as they are not a directly owned pet.

The UK and Ireland are shown to be the two leading countries for online search information on dogs per capita. This is possibly due to their very long history of reliance on dogs for protection and company. The first language English speaking countries of Australia, America and partially Canada (partially English) also have a high online interest in dogs.

European countries typically have an under-performing search interest in dogs. High density living and local government restrictions (noise laws etc) may limit dog ownership.

Does a high online interest in dogs necessarily relate to a countries real world love of dogs? In many other markets with developing products such as gluten free foods, an online interest is very much paralleled with the rise of real world sales. However since ‘dogs’ are a mature market, i.e. in developed countries there is unlikely to be a significant growth of ownership due to saturation of the market, then the interest in dogs is most likely to remain relatively fixed over time.

Analysis of the top fifty terms searched in a country often gives a clue to the cultural interest in dogs. For instance the UK and Ireland have not only the highest interest, they also have mainly a humane connection with dogs – for example, dog welfare homes having very high search levels. Similarly France’s highest search word is ‘dog pound’, and Italy is ‘dog sitter’.

The two most populous countries, China and India have very low search interest on information on dogs (even after being adjusted for internet usage and Google share). While this is predicted by their low ‘wealth per capita’ value, it is noteworthy that their search trends are removed from the generic or humane and instead relate to dressing dogs up: China – ‘dog clothes’ or India’s two top five references to ‘pictures of dogs’.

The next article shows that there is a similar logarithmic relationship between real world dog ownership and a countries propensity to search online for information about dogs.

Original research & Analysis by Bruce Dwyer. If you wish to use any of this information please refer to the article as a reference and provide a live link to http://www.dogwalkersmelbourne.com.au