Summer is here, and many dog owners enjoy taking their dogs along when they go to the lake, the beach, or the pool. Educating your puppy buyers about water safety for their dogs is a good idea, as many people don’t understand that all dogs can’t swim or that there are some serious hazards in […]

Poodles retain their position as the country’s top dog for a second decade and have regularly remained in the top ten since. The Doberman Pinscher made its first appearance in the top ten in the 1970s as the number-three breed. The breed would remain in the top ten for the 1980s as well. The Miniature […]

The only breed to rank in the top ten breeds every decade since the founding of the American Kennel Club became the nation’s top breed in the 1950s—the Beagle. Not coincidentally, Charles Schultz’s pet Beagle, Snoopy, made his illustrious first appearance in national newspapers on October 4, 1950, and swiftly became a pop phenomenon. The […]

The Poodle, recognized by the AKC in 1887, did not make the top ten breeds until the 1950s, when it ranked number seven. This glamorous show dog and companion strutted into the number-one position in the 1960s and would become the first breed to hold the number-one crown for two consecutive decades. German Shepherd Dogs, […]

The Collie, on a continual climb since its number-seven position in the 1880s, became the number-one breed of the first decade of the new century. The breed ranked in the top ten breeds for seven decades of the 20th century. The number-two breed of the decade, the Boston Terrier, became the first small companion dog […]

Dogs and people have been living and working together for thousands of years. In fact, our canine companions were some of our earliest hunting partners. Over the years, we've developed many breeds to help us hunt, each of which has specific skills that can help us find and secure several types of game. These hardy […]

Usually, when we ask if a dog is smart, we really want to know how trainable they are. Although intelligence is a major component in a dog's ability to learn, each breed has a distinct personality, instinctive drive, and genetic heritage, which will affect trainability. For example, some breeds were developed to work cooperatively with […]

The Boston Terrier became the first breed to enjoy the number-one position for two decades, though the breed fell to the number-two position in the 1920s after its initial reign atop the list in the 1910s. The records of the Boston Terrier Club of America show that the breed was number-one or number-two for every […]

Accepted in 1908, the German Shepherd Dog overtook the Boston Terrier in 1925 and became the number-one dog of the 1920s. The breed then disappeared from the top ten until after World War II, when it reemerged as the number-six dog of the 1950s and has remained among the most popular breeds to the present […]

Everybody's familiar with the German Shepherd Dog. After all, they've been one of America's most popular breeds for years. But not everybody is quite as well acquainted with the Belgian Malinois. In fact, their similar coloring and heritage as herding breeds might lead some people to mistake the Belgian Malinois for the German Shepherd Dog. […]