Regional Appeal of the AKC and UKC

Black and Tan Coonhound over the USA

Black and Tan Coonhound over the USA

Despite an accurate and detailed census being at the core of most government functions, we only get one of those every decade and they are only a smidgen more modern now than they were a century ago. So when it comes to getting accurate measures of dogs in this country, the best data we have to go on are proxy measures.

First there are organizations that have a vested interest in this information and who publish it, namely the big dog registries like the AKC and UKC. Yet, we all know that these two registries capture a mere fraction of the dogs in this country and that some very popular breeds, like Border Collies, are not represented in significant numbers in any all-breed registry.

Still, it’s interesting to compare the regional appeal of the supposed Top 10 dog breeds boasted by the AKC and UKC. The maps below are based on normalized Google searches.

AKC’s Top 10 Breeds:
Labrador Retriever, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Beagle, Bulldog, Yorkshire Terrier, Boxer, Poodle, Rottweiler, Dachshund

You’ll notice that the AKC’s breeds have good saturation across the country. Some states like North Dakota, Utah and Virginia seem particularly lacking in dog interest while states like Maine, North Carolina, Colorado, West Virginia, Montana, and Texas rank over multiple breeds.

UKC’s Top 10 Breeds:
Treeing Walker Coonhound, American Pit Bull Terrier, Bluetick Coonhound, English Coonhound, American Black and Tan Coonhound, Redbone Coonhound, Plott Hound, Beagle, Labrador Retriever, Rat Terrier

In contrast, the UKC’s top breeds seem to have very little representation in the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and South West regions of the country. The interest is highly concentrated in the South, Great Lakes, and a minor contribution from the Pacific Northwest. This is hardly surprising given just how many of the UKC’s top breeds are flavors of Coonhounds.

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About Christopher

Christopher Landauer is a fifth generation Colorado native and second generation Border Collie enthusiast. Border Collies have been the Landauer family dogs since the 1960s and Christopher got his first one as a toddler. He began his own modest breeding program with the purchase of Dublin and Celeste in 2006 and currently shares his home with their children Mercury and Gemma as well. His interest in genetics began in AP Chemistry and AP Biology and was honed at Stanford University.