
Taken from this weeks Our Dogs paper:
THE KENNEL Club has released its latest registration statistics. Kennel Club registrations are not normally a subject to get many people excited.
However, with all the trauma that has surrounded the Kennel Club website and registrations system and what seemed to be thousands of complaints in the last six months, and the well publicised puppy boom, the figures just out provide interesting reading.
There has been conjecture with the many failings of the new system that breeders had simply given up and had stopped registering puppies. Not so it seems, although the increase differs to what had been stated. The Kennel Club website’s detailed registration statistics now show that, contrary to the 15% which was previously announced as the increase for 2020 over 2019, the actual increase in 2020 was 7.8%. The total figure for 2020 was 250,659 which is up 18,104 on the previous year. In fact the 2020 registration number has reversed the drop experienced in 2019 and is now almost identical to the figure achieved in 2018, which was 250,611.
The first half of 2020 to June saw an increase of 8.3% with the second half, despite the website closures and muddles, managing an increase of 7.3% over the same period in 2019. The highest numbers of KC registrations in recent times were in 2006, 2007 and 2008 when they totalled around 270,000 in each of these three years. The record figure ever experienced by the KC was in 1989 when 283,915 dogs were registered. The 2020 figure is only some 12% less than that record number.
Group figures in 2020 saw four of the seven groups with increases. They were as follows:
Group 2019 2020 ChangeHound 20,455 23,015 +12.5%
Gundog 86,035 95,652 +11.1%
Terrier 17,219 18,259 + 6.0%
Utility 62,801 69,787 +11.1%
Working 13,064 12,752 -6.3%
Pastoral 13,403 13,109 -2.2%
Toy 19,578 18,085 -7.6%
TOTAL 232,555 250,659 +7.8%
After a fall of 3,124 last year French Bulldog registrations have increased again, this time by 5,607 and this makes up 80% of the overall increase of 6,986 experienced by the Utility Group.
French Bulldogs have shown amazing increases in the last few years as follows:
· 2007 692
· 2008 1,025
· 2009 1,521
· 2010 2,204
· 2011 2,771
· 2012 4,648
· 2013 6,990
· 2014 9,670
· 2015 14,607
· 2016 21,470
· 2017 30,887
· 2018 36,785
· 2019 33,661
· 2020 39,266
Another brachycephalic breed to see a substantial increase in 2020 was the Bulldog, up by 1672 (16.8%) to 11,594 and making it the fourth largest breed as far as registrations are concerned. Pugs on the other hand have fallen by 10.6% which leaves them 9th in the popularity stakes.
French Bulldogs in 2018 had overtaken Labradors as the top dog for registration numbers, in 2019 they fell back to second place with Labradors regaining the top spot, which they retain in 2020 at 39,905.
Top ten breedsThe top ten breeds in 2020 were as follows:
Ranking Breed Number Ranking
This Year Last Year1 Labrador Retriever 39,905 1
2 French Bulldog 39,266 2
3 Cocker Spaniel 25,565 3
4 Bulldog 11,594 4
5 Min S/H Dachshund 10,369 7
6 English SS 9,123 5
7 Golden Retriever 8,653 6
8 German Shepherd 7,067 8
9 Pug 6,033 9
10 Staff Bull Terrier 5,010 13
Miniature S/H Dachshunds in 2019 had risen by 1,370 from 7,008 to 8,375 an increase of 20%, and this year they have again grown in numbers by a further 1,994 or 24%. Miniature L/H Dachshunds have also increased in numbers. Miniature Schnauzers have again fallen and are now no longer in the top ten as far as KC registrations are concerned.