The Labrador Retriever is officially Britain's top dog – while the Chinese Crested, various Bulldogs and the Poodle rank among the least loved
As many people own dogs as own cats in Britain (25% each), but when you add in all the people without pets they're easily the most loved animal in the country. Of the 60,000 YouGov members that have contributed data on the 215 (and growing) animals in YouGov Profiles, 16% have given a positive rating to dogs, ahead of tigers and elephants (tied at 13%) and dolphins and cats (tied at 12%).
Not only do we collect data on animals, we go down to even finer detail, with data on 356 dog breeds and 64 cat breeds overall. A new YouGov Profiles analysis of over 44,000 YouGov members who've contributed data on dog breeds reveals the nation's most and least loved breeds.
The top dog is the Labrador Retriever, known for short as the Labrador, or by colour as the black, yellow or chocolate Lab. It's positivity score (the strength of positive sentiment among those who have rated it) is two points higher than the classic British herding breed, the Border Collie, and the Golden Retriever, famed for its friendliness (both scoring 67).
The top ranking dogs are mainly mid-sized working or herding dogs, often originating in Britain. The Alaskan Husky is the only real exception, known for its efficiency as a sled dog in North America; the other being the Golden Retriever, a gun dog but still hailing from Britain and Europe.
The dogs with the least positivity (in fact all ten at the very bottom of the 356 breeds are in negative territory) tend to be smaller dogs, either of the toy variety or notorious for their bad temper.
The least liked, by a long way, is the Chinese Crested, a breed that comes either hairless with a kind of mullet or in the "Powder Puff" (with fur) variety. It scores -30, well below the Bullboxer Pit with -21 positivity.
Along with the Bullboxer Pit, the Pit Bull, Miniature Bull Terrier and Bullboxer Staff are all relatively disliked, perhaps due to negative press for causing injury.
In terms of actual ownership, YouGov Profiles data shows the Labrador as the most widely-owned, followed by the Alsatian, Border Collie and Jack Russell Terrier.
