POPULAR BREEDS 2008

From USA TODAY
By Sharon L. Peters, Special for USA TODAY
Labrador retrievers still reign supreme, but the snub-nosed, squatty-body bulldog has sauntered into the top 10 for the first time in decades.
The 2007 popularity rankings released this morning by the American Kennel Club show teeny dogs like Yorkshire terriers and big ones like German shepherds sandwiched between labs (No. 1 for 17 straight years) and bulldogs (which climbed from No. 26 in 1997 to No. 12 in 2006 before inching into the No. 10 spot last year.)
Knocked out of the Top 10 in 2007: miniature schnauzer.
The appearance on the top 10 for the first time since 1935 of the bulldog, which AKC breed specifications describe as a 50-pounder with a "dignified" demeanor and a "loose-jointed" and "shuffling" gait, is no surprise to bulldog lovers. AKC's Lisa Peterson described the dog as "docile and adaptive" and an "all-around family pet who does well with children."
The AKC assigned rankings to 157 breeds from the 812,452 dogs it registered last year, according to spokeswoman Daisy Okas. Some 114,113 labs and 22,160 bulldogs were registered.
The AKC numbers represent only a tiny percentage of the nation's estimated 75 million household dogs and a fraction of the nation's purebreds, since many owners opt not to register their dogs or they register them with other registries that have cropped up in recent years.
But the AKC has been charting breed-popularity numbers since 1915 and is regarded as an accurate bellwether of trend lines of each breed,
The AKC's analysis also shows that dogs under 20 pounds have gained in popularity in the last decade. Breeds that have shown the most dramatic jumps: Havanese, Cavalier King Charles spaniel, French bulldog (about half the size of the bulldog and quite different in looks) and the Brussels griffon.
The bulldog, with its escalating popularity and distinctive face, particularly when in puppyhood, has been the object of internet scams, prompting the AKC and the Better Business Bureau to issue a warning last year. In many cases photos of "free" or "inexpensive" bulldogs were posted, and interested parties wired money to cover transport costs, but never received a puppy. The party supposedly owning the dog could never be traced or found.
Similar scams have been used for other breeds.
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