Fate of Dulux dogs paints a 'paw' picture.

One of Britain’s most recognisable dog breeds, the Old English Sheepdog, has been classed as vulnerable by The Kennel Club for the first time ever, following a steep decline in the breed’s popularity.

Known to many as the 'Dulux dog', a role for which it celebrate its 60th anniversary earlier this year, the Old English Sheepdog saw just 227 puppy registrations in 2020. Coincidentally, this is the lowest recorded number of annual puppy registrations for the breed since 1961, the year of the Dulux dog's debut, and comes despite last year seeing The Kennel Club's highest puppy registrations in ten years.

Following the first appearance of the breed as the paint brand’s mascot, the subsequent two decades saw the numbers of Old English Sheepdogs steadily rise, peaking in 1979 when it was the ninth most popular breed in the UK, with nearly 6,000 registrations. Sadly, puppy registrations have since plummeted by 96 per cent, with a 28 per cent drop in the last year, against the 2019 figure.

Since 2009, the breed has been on The Kennel Club’s ‘At Watch’ list, which monitors breeds with between 300-450 puppy registrations a year, but this is the first time it has entered the organisation’s Vulnerable Native Breeds list – devised for those British and Irish native breeds which have fallen below 300 annual puppy registrations and could be at risk of disappearing from our streets and parks.

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The top ten fastest risers also include a number of large breeds including the Weimaraner and German Wirehaired Pointer, whilst the German Shorthaired Pointer entered the top 20 overall breeds. These very similar gundog breeds all require a lot of space and exercise, perhaps reflecting the nation becoming reacquainted with the outdoors in 2020 as lockdown was enacted across the country and many people moved to the countryside.

Full article HERE

I'm not surprised, their coats are a nightmare. My ex had an old english when we met, he was really elderly and quite ill and I made excuses for the matted condition of him based on this, when he died ex wanted another so we got a oes pup. We kept her in full coat with the intention of showing her, I was showing zois at the time, but by 7 months her coat was unmanageable even with nightly grooming sessions. At the time I had 5 borzois, which was enough grooming for me. We had her clipped off but she always had mats even though she went to be clipped right down to the wood every 4/6 weeks. She loved the water and her coat just felted when she was wet. Not ideal dogs for most homes.

Other than the coat she was a great dog, easily trained, good natured and lots of fun, always up for racing with the hounds... but that coat can't be discounted.

They had a lady owner on this morning yesterday who was saying in her opinion it was not a dying breed but one who would soon be back into popularity and implied it was covid that had reduced breeding of theis breed
She also claimed the coat was no more difficult than many of the doodles coats and in most cases easier.  The one I knew dealt with it by have a puppy clip every summer
I must say I was surprised about her comments as thought they had been in the vulnerable list for a long time now .
Tbh I felt it was a different interview to what this morning had expected

mm but a lot of doodles have coats that are utter nightmare

That was my thoughts too weimed

The IRWS would love registrations as high as that! There have only been 306 registrations in the past 5 years.

That's still 5 times our breeds numbers, with registrations averaging under 50 for well over a decade.

Even at it's highest our breed never had more than 300 registrations, and not over 150 since the 1990's.