even very popular AKC breeds, like German Shepards, are very inbred. Breeders believe in stuff like “line breeding” which guarantees inbreeding.
I’ve only seen St. Bernards in movies. I sometimes wonder if a regular person actually owns one.
If you want to see all the AKC breeds, go to a dog show. You’ll see at least a few specimens of the majority of the nearly 200 breeds registered with the AKC. You won’t see 90% of those breeds elsewhere as a rule.
Fifty years ago, there was a clear division between Purebred AKC-papered dogs – there were maybe half the breeds recognized that there are now – and “mutts”. Registered dogs had a large status advantage. Now, the AKC has become a niche organization which caters mainly to what is called The Dog Fancy, which consists mostly of people who breed one to four litters of one breed a year and have a hobby of competing at dog shows. This section of the registered-breed world is as active as it ever was, but its role in providing status dogs for the general public has nosedived.
There are only ever about a dozen breeds at any time which are popular with the general public, and most of those have little to do with the AKC, which no longer has much influence except in the dog show hobby realm. I would say that over half of the recognizable breed population right now are Labradors, Pit Bulls, Poodles, and Chihuahuas.
The smashed-in-face look which so many think is adorable, is covered at present by Pugs and Shih Tzus with a sprinkling of Boston Terriers.
I think Afghans were last a fad breed in the 1980’s. Their personalities – utterly self-absorbed – and their size and hair – fairly quickly soured people on them.
A neighbor had one when was two, and I’m told I used to ride it. I’m not sure I’ve seen one since, but it still seems like a “normal” breed to me because of that. I’ve seen a lot of English Mastiffs, Swiss Mountain Dogs, and Bernese Mountain Dogs more recently, though, which all feel somewhat similar.
Surprisingly (to me, anyway), St. Bernards are the 52d most popular breed in the U.S. according to the latest AKC registration data. That puts them ahead of such breeds as Jack Russell terriers, corgis, chows etc.
That sounds about right. I see more St Bernards than Jack russells or corgis and chows.
Most of the Jack Russells I see are old, and ying off, they were a fad a while back, but that has faded. I don’t know anyone that has one corgi. Anyone with a corgi has at least two, or more. Chows are pretty infrequent, I think I’ve only seen 2 pure Chow Chows. But St Bernards are becoming more popular. That may lessen as the people realize what a pain they are.
There aren’t all that many “pure” dogs out there in homes as pets anymore. Most people get mixes, there’s a doodle for everything. I’ve only seen a couple Irish Setters, but several Setterdoodles.
Toy poodles have seemed to have fallen out of favor for similar but not as “snobby” lines like Bichons and Havanese, but mixes of those are pretty popular as well. Cavachons and Shichons are certainly “in” right now.
The city of Toronto dog licensing department shows 61 St Bernards (both rough and smooth coated), 170 corgis (Pembroke and Cardigan) and 2,052 Parson (Jack) Russell terriers. I was a bit surprised because I see corgis all the time and I think I’ve seen one St Bernard in the past 10 years.
EDIT: Actually, those numbers are from 2011. From 2020, the numbers are 335 corgis, 85 St Bernards and 927 Jack Russell terriers.
My experience is of course biased towards dogs that get grooming.
Though I see lots of labs on the street, I don’t see all that many in the shop.
It amazes me that anyone wants a huge dog with tons of fur, requiring constant brushing, vacuuming and clot removal (I just removed a small dog-equivalent of clots from Pluto the spaniel, and he’s only medium-sized).
I wouldn’t get a St Bernard because, well, I probably won’t ever have a dog, because they are so much work, but I really don’t want a drool factory in my house. I dislike dog drool. Still, I see the appeal. They are big, cuddly, easy-going, and as best as I can recall, just nice dogs to hang out with. If it weren’t for the drool, they’d be near the top of my list for “dogs I’d consider owning”.
The movies have greatly enhanced St. Bernards’ cuddly image.
Spoiled Bloody Dog Pic
https://s3.birthmoviesdeath.com/images/made/Cujo-Header-Bloody_1050_591_81_s_c1.jpg
I knew a woman who had a Great Pyrenees that drooled like mad. She had surgery done on the dog to remove redundant lip tissue, leading to way less drooling. The woman had a stroke; afterwards she pointed out the irony that she now drooled more than her dog.
“Fuck you, dog!” ::car konks out::
We’ve got a mastiff and the volume of drool is impressive. He is the best body pillow in the world and my wife loves to wrap herself around him when she goes to sleep. He is also incredibly sweet to everyone and just wants to be loved by everyone he meets but my god the amount of drool. We spend hours cleaning the walls, ceilings, and floors just from his mess and he’s hard a parties because despite a big mouthful of drool he wants to bury his head in the lap of everyone in the house.
We joke about getting a St. Bernard once he dies (he’s 9) but adding the hair to the drool we’d basically have to give up ever having a clean house.
This thread seems to do a banging job of creating dog breeds you rarely, if ever, see anymore.