Kennel Club announces drop in registrations
04 Feb 2010 08:01
THE TOTAL number of puppies registered with the Kennel Club during 2009 was 244,461, down by 11 per cent on the 2008 figure of 271,719.
This is the lowest total since 2002, though looking at the figures for the last 20 years, registrations have remained relatively stable with only short-term fluctuations. After an all-time high in 1989 of 283,915, annual registrations have never dipped below 200,000, and the 2008 figure was among only five years to exceed 270,000.
An encouraging sign is that, while the first three quarters of 2009 each showed a decline on the same period in 2008, the final quarter was up, 60,982 as against 60,830 for October to December 2008.
A KC spokesman commented: “While it is disappointing that the overall number of dogs registered with the KC during 2009 has fallen, there are definite signs of recovery underway.
‘Bounce back’
“Five of the seven groups saw more dogs registered in the fourth quarter of 2009 than in the same period in the previous year and indeed the total number registered in this period was up when compared against the last quarter of 2008.
“This shows that the rate of the decrease is not simply slowing but actually appears to have stopped completely and begun to bounce back. We hope that this signals a considerably brighter future for the year to come.”
As usual Labradors top the breed list with over 16 per cent of the total, though actual numbers have declined from 45,233 in 2008 to 40,943.
The top six breeds remain as the previous year: Cockers are second with 22,211 (22,508 in 2008), English Springers 12,700 (14,800), German Shepherds 10,338 (11,903), Cavaliers 8,884 (a steep numerical decline from 11,226) and Staffords 8,746 (10,744).
Border Terriers 8,214 (9,145) overtake Golden Retrievers 7,804 (9,159) into seventh place.
Next come Boxers 5,947 (7,353), West Highland Whites 5,890 (7,330), and then Miniature Schnauzers 5,231 (5,333) swop places with Shih Tzu 5,127 (5,495).
Pugs 4,769 (4,480) go up two places over Lhasa Apsos 4,674 (5,117) and Bulldogs 4,217 (4,543).
Yorkshire Terriers 3.767 (3,951) remain in sixteenth place, followed by Whippets 3,246 (3,328).
Unusually a breed without CC status moves into the top 20: Dogues de Bordeaux 2,790 (2,452), pushing ahead of Bull Terriers 2,624 (2,922). Beagles 2,592 (2,405) also join the leading breeds, while Bichons and Rottweilers are no longer in the top 20.
Containing the three leading breeds, gundogs were the most numerous group last year with 94,894 registrations (104,757 in 2008), followed by terriers 33,128 (39,086), utility 32,316 (34,303), toy 29,490 (31,819), working 21,657 (24,457), pastoral 17,992 (20,838) and hounds 14,984 (16,459).
For the final quarter of 2009 the group figures were hounds 4,200 (3,810 for the same period in 2008), gundogs 22,468 (22,333), terriers 8,461 (8,771), utility 8,484 (8,436), working 5,716 (5,554), pastoral 4,132 (4,586) and toy 7,521 (7,340).
Labradors are also the most pupular breed in the US, judging by American LKC registration figures for 2009. There, German Shepherds have overtaken Yorkshire Terriers for second place.
Their remaining top ten are Golden Retrievers, Beagles, Boxers, Bulldogs, Dachshunds, Poodles (in the last two, all varieties are counted together) and Shih Tzu. If Dachshunds and Poodles were counted together in the UK, they would be 13th and 17th respectively.