Top Dog Breeds by City in 2005

The American Kennel Club released their registration numbers for 2005 allowing us to determine the top 10 breeds for the year. For the 16th year in a row, the Labrador retriever is once again America's favorite purebred dog, according to registration numbers tallied by the American Kennel Club.

There are 154 AKC breeds totaling 920,804 registrations in 2005. This is down 4% from 2004 when registrations totaled 958,641.

Additionally, they also tallied top breeds by city for 25 US cities including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa and Washington DC.

In reviewing these numbers by city, it is hard to draw any conclusions on why some cities prefer some dogs over other dogs. One might think that the warm-weather tolerant breeds might be more common in the South and outdoorsy dogs might be more common in the Midwestern cities. However, there seem to be no pattern to how these cities love their dogs!

First, lets look at the overall top 10 then we will list the ranking by city.

The Top 10 Breeds of 2005 are:

1. Labrador retrievers
2. Golden retrievers
3. Yorkshire terriers
4. German shepherds
5. Beagles
6. Dachshunds
7. Boxers
8. Poodles
9. Shih Tzus
10. Miniature Schnauzer

The Top Breeds by City includes*:

Atlanta
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. Boxers
4. German Shepherd Dogs
5. Poodles
6. Yorkshire Terriers
7. Miniature Schnauzers
8. Dachshunds
9. Shih Tzu
10. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels

Baltimore
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. German Shepherd Dogs
3. Boxers
4. Retrievers (Golden)
5. Yorkshire Terriers
6. Pugs
7. Chihuahuas
8. Dachshunds
9. Bulldogs
10. Rottweilers

Boston
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. German Shepherd Dogs
4. Boxers
5. Yorkshire Terriers
6. Pugs
7. Bulldogs
8. Maltese
9. Chihuahuas
10. Boston Terriers

Charlotte
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. German Shepherd Dogs
4. Yorkshire Terriers
5. Boxers
6. Dachshunds
7. Poodles
8. Beagles
9. Shih Tzu
10. Spaniels (Cocker)

Chicago
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. German Shepherd Dogs
3. Retrievers (Golden)
4. Boxers
5. Pugs
6. Yorkshire Terriers
7. Rottweilers
8. Bulldogs
9. Shih Tzu
10. Poodles

Cleveland
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. German Shepherd Dogs
4. Boxers
5. Miniature Schnauzers
6. Pugs
7. Poodles
8. Yorkshire Terriers
9. Shih Tzu
10. Bichons Frises

Columbus
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. Boxers
4. German Shepherd Dogs
5. Yorkshire Terriers
6. Dachshunds
7. Miniature Schnauzers
8. Poodles
9. Doberman Pinschers
10. Shih Tzu

Dallas
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Yorkshire Terriers
3. Retrievers (Golden)
4. Dachshunds
5. German Shepherd Dogs
6. Boxers
7. Poodles
8. Miniature Schnauzers
9. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
10. Chihuahuas

Denver
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. German Shepherd Dogs
4. Boxers
5. Bulldogs
6. Dachshunds
7. Poodles
8. Yorkshire Terriers
9. Pointers (German Shorthaired)
10. Shih Tzu

Detroit
1. German Shepherd Dogs
2. Retrievers (Labrador)
3. Yorkshire Terriers
4. Rottweilers
5. Poodles
6. Retrievers (Golden)
7. Shih Tzu
8. Boxers
9. Spaniels (Cocker)
10. Chihuahuas

Houston
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Yorkshire Terriers
3. Boxers
4. Retrievers (Golden)
5. German Shepherd Dogs
6. Miniature Schnauzers
7. Poodles
8. Dachshunds
9. Shih Tzu
10. Chihuahuas

Las Vegas
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. Yorkshire Terriers
4. Shih Tzu
5. Dachshunds
6. Bulldogs
7. Poodles
8. German Shepherd Dogs
9. Pomeranians
10. Miniature Schnauzers

Los Angeles
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. German Shepherd Dogs
3. Retrievers (Golden)
4. Yorkshire Terriers
5. Bulldogs
6. Poodles
7. Pomeranians
8. Pugs
9. Maltese
10. Shih Tzu

Miami
1. German Shepherd Dogs
2. Yorkshire Terriers
3. Retrievers (Labrador)
4. Maltese
5. Rottweilers
6. Boxers
7. Chihuahuas
8. Bulldogs
9. Dachshunds
10. Shih Tzu

New Orleans
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. German Shepherd Dogs
3. Yorkshire Terriers
4. Boxers
5. Retrievers (Golden)
6. Dachshunds
7. Poodles
8. Spaniels (Cocker)
9. Beagles
10. Bulldogs

New York
1. Poodles
2. Retrievers (Labrador)
3. Dachshunds
4. Yorkshire Terriers
5. Retrievers (Golden)
6. Bulldogs
7. French Bulldogs
8. Shih Tzu
9. Havanese
10. Pugs

Philadelphia
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Boxers
3. Rottweilers
4. Retrievers (Golden)
5. Yorkshire Terriers
6. German Shepherd Dogs
7. Bulldogs
8. Poodles
9. Shih Tzu
10. Chihuahuas

Phoenix
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. German Shepherd Dogs
3. Retrievers (Golden)
4. Dachshunds
5. Yorkshire Terriers
6. Chihuahuas
7. Shih Tzu
8. Miniature Pinschers
9. Miniature Schnauzers
10. Poodles

Raleigh
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. German Shepherd Dogs
4. Dachshunds
5. Poodles
6. Shih Tzu
7. Yorkshire Terriers
8. Boxers
9. Pomeranians
10. Chihuahuas

San Diego
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. Yorkshire Terriers
4. Dachshunds
5. Poodles
6. Pugs
7. Bulldogs
8. German Shepherd Dogs
9. Boxers
10. Shih Tzu

San Francisco
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Yorkshire Terriers
3. Retrievers (Golden)
4. Poodles
5. German Shepherd Dogs
6. Dachshunds
7. Pugs
8. Shih Tzu
9. West Highland White Terriers
10. Boston Terriers

Seattle
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. Pugs
4. Yorkshire Terriers
5. German Shepherd Dogs
6. Chihuahuas
7. Dachshunds
8. Poodles
9. Boston Terriers
10. Havanese

St. Louis
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. Boxers
4. Poodles
5. Yorkshire Terriers
6. German Shepherd Dogs
7. Shih Tzu
8. Rottweilers
9. Pugs
10. Chihuahuas

Tampa
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Yorkshire Terriers
3. Boxers
4. German Shepherd Dogs
5. Dachshunds
6. Retrievers (Golden)
7. Bulldogs
8. Poodles
9. Chihuahuas
10. Shih Tzu

Washington, DC
1. Retrievers (Labrador)
2. Retrievers (Golden)
3. Yorkshire Terriers
4. Bulldogs
5. Pugs
6. Rottweilers
7. Boxers
8. Poodles
9. Shih Tzu
10. German Shepherd Dogs

How does your breed rank? See the full list for the entire 2005 AKC ranking.

* Data from akc.org – at http://www.akc.org/reg/topdogsbycity.cfm