The nation has a new top dog -- the Labrador retriever.
Based on 1991 registration figures, the American Kennel Club's annual ranking of breeds showed America's favorite retrievers pushing cocker spaniels into second place, out of the top spot they'd held for a decade.
Poodles were the third-most-popular breed, unchanged since the previous year. The rest of the top 10 (with their earlier ranking in parentheses): 4) Rottweilers (5); 5) German shepherds (6); 6) golden retrievers (4); 7) beagles (9); 8) dachshunds (8); 9) chow chows (7); and 10) Shetland sheep dogs (11). Labrador retrievers held the second-most-popular spot before moving up to No. 1.
What does this mean to anyone who wants a Labrador -- or indeed, any of the top breeds? In a word: Beware.
Any time a breed becomes popular, it attracts the attention of all kinds of substandard breeders, from cruel puppy-millers to well-meaning pet lovers who think it would be fun -- and maybe profitable -- to have puppies in the house. Such people have less concern for health and temperament problems than the best breeders do, and they generally neither know nor care about breeding to the correct standards of appearance set out by the national breed club. The result can be a flood of poor-quality dogs that have little in common with what made the breed popular in the first place.
If you're interested a purebred dog, you're better off taking the extra time to locate a knowledgeable, reputable breeder. That's true of any breed, of course, but especially so when it comes to dogs that have caught the nation's fancy.
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Q: What do you think of pet health insurance?
A: More pet-lovers than ever want top-quality care for their pets, and more veterinarians than ever are prepared to provide it. Better care from better-trained professionals can be costly, however, and veterinary pet insurance is an attempt to bridge the gap between what such care can cost and what people are capable of paying.
Anyone with a pet knows that, like everything else, the costs of veterinary care have gone up in recent years, although certainly not as fast as human medical costs. Routine veterinary care -- exams, lab tests and vaccinations -- can easily run more than $100 a year; specialty care can be even more expensive. A serious illness or major surgery can cost several hundred dollars or more.
