Pedigree Dogs: The Belgian Shepherd Tops the List of the Top 20 Dog Breeds in France

The ranking of the top 20 pedigree dogs by registrations in the French Kennel Club studbook in 2016 has slightly shaken up the established order: the Belgian Shepherd takes the lead, dethroning the German Shepherd, which drops to second place, ahead of the Australian Shepherd,which moves up from fifth to third place compared to 2015, taking the place of the Golden Retriever. In total, across all breeds, 227,993 French Kennel Club studbook registrations* were recorded by the French Kennel Club last year, including 131,650 for the top 20 breeds.Sheepdogs and cattle dogs (Group I) alone account for nearly one in four registrations.

For 2016, the Belgian Shepherd is the French public’s new favorite pedigree dog, ahead of the German Shepherd, the Australian Shepherd, and the Golden Retriever. Among the four varieties of Belgian Shepherds, the Malinois showed the strongest growth, with 9,179 puppies registered, ahead of the Tervuren (1,521), the Groenendael (517), and the Laekenois (50).

This is the first time since 1945 that the long-reigning German Shepherd has had to cede the top spot on the podium to its Belgian cousin. The rest of the rankings show few changes compared to 2015, according to statistics published by the SCC. Behind the herding dogs in the top three, the Golden Retriever, the American Staffordshire Terrier, and especially the Staffordshire Bull Terrier have seen their registrations increase by several percentage points in one year. Since 2000, Golden Retriever births have doubled, and those of “Staffies” have increased more than 60-fold, marking the most significant growth over the past 15 years. With more than 9,000 births, the breed retains its sixth-place ranking, ahead of the Labrador (7,470 births). Over the same period, another notable increase can be attributed to the Chihuahua, the world’s smallest dog from Mexico, whose French Kennel Club studbook registrations increased tenfold between 2000 and 2016.

* Source: SCC/French Kennel Club studbook service. Compared to 215,445 registrations in 2015.