Labrador Retriever Most Popular Breed with Insurance companies and AKC

According to a statistic released by the Brea, California based Veterinary Pet Insurance, it is the Labrador breed, which came out as the most popular medical insured dog breed for 2007. The company analyzed its database to find the top 10 insured breeds during the last year.38,591 insured Labs were followed by 19,313 Golden Retrievers and 14,074 Yorkshire Terriers. The remaining seven spots were filled by 13,149 Shih Tzu’s, 10,281 Boxers, 8,829 German Shepherds, 8,581 Chihuahua’s, 8,064 Maltese, 7,404 Pugs and finally 7,187 Cocker Spaniels.
The company also calculated the average amount its policyholders spent on non routine veterinary care for each of the top insured breeds in 2007. The medical care costs, the average annual submitted claim amount, appear directly related to the size of the breed, with larger breeds costing more than smaller ones. The disparity of expense is most likely due to the fact that larger breeds can require larger doses of medication, according to the insurer.
These cost range from $296 being the highest and was spent for a German Shepherd, followed by $295 for Boxers and $287 for a Lab. Ranked 4($279) to 10 were Golden Retriever, Cocker Spaniel, Pug’s, Yorkshire Terrier, Maltese, Chihuahua and the Shih Tzu’s being the lowest one with $207.
Labs have also been the most commonly registered breed with the American Kennel Club for the past 17 years. The breed is the only one to occupy the same number one position on both the Veterinary Pet Insurance and AKC lists. Although the AKC’s registration numbers indicate a large amount of registered Beagles, Dachshunds, Poodles and Miniature Schnauzers, none of these breeds was among insurance’s most commonly insured breeds. The AKC ranking is as follows (from top to bottom): Labrador Retrievers, Yorkshire Terriers, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, Beagles, Boxers, Dachshunds, Poodles, ShihTzu’s and Bulldogs. The complete AKC listing is available online. Interesting enough is also that when looking at the AKC list is the fact that there has been very little change in the within the top ten ranking since 1997. Most breeds listed in the top ten in 2007 were already listed as such 10 years earlier.
To me personally, I really don’t care too much about such rankings. They are interesting, but at the end of the day, regardless what breed of dog we have, they are all OUR most popular ones.