PETS
The Labrador Retriever has been named as Denmark’s most popular dog breed in an annual list which also suggests that a Covid-19 “puppy boom” has passed its peak.
Published: 16 March 2023 17:06 CET
The Labrador Retriever is Denmark’s most popular breed of dog, according to the Danish Kennel Club. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix
Puppy litters in Denmark have returned to pre-Covid-19 levels, according to dog owners’ association Dansk Kennel Klub.
The pandemic saw a “puppy boom” in which the number of litters increased, but the 22,481 puppies registered with the organisation in 2022 represented a 20 percent decrease compared to the previous year.
Labrador Retrievers are meanwhile the most popular pedigree dog breed in Denmark for the seventh year in a row, Dansk Kennel Klub said in a press statement released on its website.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, record numbers of people in Denmark decided to get a dog. The number of registrations in the Dansk Kennel Klub database increased by 10 percent between 2019 and 2020. There was a further 20 percent increase between 2020 and 2021.
The subsequent drop in 2022 was therefore an expected development, Dansk Kennel Klub press spokesperson Lise Lotte Christensen said in the statement.
“[A drop of 20 percent] sounds like a lot but if we compare with the year before the corona pandemic it shows we’re back at a more normal rate – in fact, there’s a little increase of 4.6 percent,” she said.
She added the figure was positive because it is evidence that breeders are not producing more dogs than there are good homes for in Denmark.
The Labrador is top of the list as the most frequently registered pedigree with 2,648 registrations last year, and therefore the most popular with buyers.
The second-highest number of registrations (1,645) was of Havanese, with Golden Retrievers (1,415) in third place. The full list can be read below.
Top 20 pedigree dog breed registrations with Dansk Kennel Klub, 2022
- Labrador Retriever
- Havanese
- Golden Retriever
- German Shepherd
- Staffordshire Bull Terrier
- Poodle (all sizes)
- Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
- Cotton Tulear
- Dachshund (all sizes/hair lengths)
- German Wirehaired Pointer
- Border Collie
- Jack Russell Terrier
- English Cocker Spaniel
- Bernese Mountain Dog
- Cardigan Welsh Corgi
- Small Munsterlander
- Australian Shepherd
- Shetland Sheepdog
- Danish–Swedish farmdog
- Rottweiler