Google searches are used to calculate dog breed popularity because it's the most popular search engine on earth and its data is easily comparable across countries. The graphs show a six month average of monthly Google searches on Google (and its partners) up until Feb 2013, for the exact dog breed terms shown.

The dog breed popularity curves are not smoothly declining (ie some lower placed dog breeds show higher search volumes). The reason for this is that the position (left to right on the bottom scale) was the dog breed popularity for February, while the actual volume shown on the Vertical axis is the average for the last six months. In this way you can see what dogs breeds might be up and coming in popularity.

Australia dog breed popularity list 2013

The top five dog breeds in Australia for February 2013 were: German shepherd (10,633); golden retriever (7,850); Labrador (6,650); Rottweiler (7,350); Pomeranian (7,600)

As you can see over the last six months the Pomeranian was actually the third most popular dog breed in Australia on Google, but in February it was fifth placed.

The ratio between the top dog breed and the fifteenth breed was 10,633 to 1,550  or nearly 7 to 1.

The extreme popularity of the German shepherd, Labrador and golden retriever can be seen by the fact that in each of these dog breeds also have puppy versions of their breeds in the top15 dog breeds list.

Slightly surprising is the inclusion of the Rottweiler in this list at number four. This is a large powerful dog, in modern times bred for protection and guard duties, It is not a dog that a non committed dog owner should attempt to own. These dogs need a lot of exercise, good nutrition, daily walks and socialisation if the owner wants to keep them as a social and non aggressive dog.

CANADA dog breed popularity list 2013

The top five dog breeds in Canada were: German Shepherd (17,000), golden retriever (17,000); shih tzu (20,150); pomeranian (13,000), rottweiller (13,450)

Only the shih tzu and Rottweiler were different from the Australia popular dog breed list top five.

But perhaps it is better to  compare Canada's dog breed list to America's most popular dogs, which were: german shepherd; Pomeranian, Labrador, German shepherd puppies; Yorkshire terrier.

Yes every country, including Canada, is in love with German Shepherds!  The Canadian dog popularity curve is not very smooth and a big part of this is that the shih tzu for the previous six months was by 3,000 searches extra per month THE most popular dog in Canada!

The ratio between most popular dog and fifteenth dog breed was 17,000 to 3,483 (near five to one). While this is one of the closest grouping of dog popularity for any country analysed, it should be noted that Canada is a very dog breed obsessed country with the fifteen breeds occurring in the top thirty (30) dog associated terms for February 2013.

IRELAND dog breed popularity list 2013

The top five dog breeds in Ireland were: German Shepherd (1,850); Shih tzu (2,100); golden retriever (1,550); Yorkshire terrier (1,350); Staffordshire bull terrier (1,150)

Ireland was selected for comparison because of its proximity to UK, and because it is the second highest dog associated search country in the world per person, just behind the UK. You will note that these search volumes are very low, however you should also realize that Ireland's current population is not even 5 million people, and they have had some poor economic woes over the last few years.

Again German shepherds and the new flavour 'shih tzu' are popular like in many other countries. There are quite a few similarities between Ireland five most popular dog breeds and those in the UK: shih tzu; German shepherd; cocker spaniel; Pomeranian; Labrador

JAPAN dog breed popularity list 2013

The leading dog breeds in Japan are: golden retriever (572); Pomeranian (300); German shepherd (300); yorkshire terrier (173); labrador retriever (243).

At the start of 2013 Google appears to have around one third market share of the Japanese market. However even if you multiply the search volumes by three, the leading term golden retriever is still only 1,700 which is still less than Ireland's top dog breed volume, and Japan's population is near 128 million, close to 25 times as many people as Ireland.

You will notice that rank 14 and 15 are missing on the Japanese graph. That is because on 'dog associated' searches, Japan doesn't even have 15 dog breeds. In 2001 there were 10 million dogs in Japan, so it is surprising that they do not search for dogs more than they do.

CONCLUSION

The first three countries analysed (Australia, Canada, Ireland) are in the top five dog search countries per person in the world. You will see that in the top fifteen most popular dog breeds there are many similarities between these countries. Japan is curious in that the people own many dogs, and they are a highly technology driven country, yet they do not search for dog information very often.

Article by Bruce Dwyer. If you wish to use any of this information please use a LINK reference to http://www.dogwalkersmelbourne.com.au

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