Survey Reveals Britain's Top 10 Favourite Dog Breeds

A love of dogs comes naturally to most of us. They are man's best friend, after all. And woman's, presumably.

But choosing your favourite of Britain's beautiful bounty of 217 recognised breeds is much harder.

However, it seems 10,000 Brits had enough conviction to answer this most demanding doggo question in a poll conducted by ITV.

The results were revealed last night (29 January) on Britain's Top 100 Dogs Live: 2019 - an epic two-and-a-half hour rundown presented by Ben Fogle and Sara Cox.

But who gives a shit what the 87th most popular breed is? Let's jump right into the top 10.

10. Mixed breed

Well, we start off on extremely dubious grounds, with 'mixed breed' taking the 10th place. Obviously, mixed breed isn't even a breed really, so let's move swiftly on from these mischievous mongrels.

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9. Golden Retriever

In at nine is the Golden Retriever, which no doubt many people will feel is a bit of a snub. Sure, ninth out of 217 is good going, but goldies really are immaculate dogs.

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8. German Shepherd

Eighth place was claimed by the German Shepherd - and it would take a brave soul to try and take anything away from one. The dogs are widely used by police and military, as they're very trainable and powerful.

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7. Border Collie

Border Collies were the seventh most popular choice - though they finished fifth in the poll last year. The breed is best known for its sheep herding abilities, as well as being highly intelligent. That said, they can be extremely obsessive too.

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6. Boxer

The Boxer has evidently enjoyed a huge surge in popularity, climbing from 18th on last year's show to the number 6 spot.

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5. Cocker Spaniel

At this point it all gets a bit spaniely, with the Cocker Spaniel finishing fifth...

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4. Springer Spaniel

...and the Springer Spaniel springing ahead in fourth.

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3. Labrador

Taking bronze was last year's champion, the lovable Labrador.

As well as just being beautiful on the outside and the inside, labs are also used as guide dogs - and lab puppies are, of course, the face of Andrex toilet paper.

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2. Cockapoo

Beating the Labrador to second was the Cockapoo - which is quite frankly a joke. The rudely named pooch is a mix of Cocker Spaniel and Poodle, hence the name.

1. Staffordshire Bull Terrier

But the controversial winner, was the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, or Staffie, which paradoxically is also the most populous breed across Britain's rescue centres.

As a member of the pit bull family, the Staffie has a reputation for being aggressive. This perception was reflected on Twitter in the aftermath of this breed being crowned the nation's favourite dog.

One person said: "Staffies are dangerous dogs. Who is even questioning this? Potentially dangerous to people and certainly to other animals, cats and dogs included."

However, others hailed the breed's victory, claiming the win could help to stop the breed being misrepresented.

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One Twitter user said: "Yesss Staffies got it. So pleased for all the hundreds of rescue centres who have been fighting for years against unnecessary bad reputations these beautiful dogs have been given. Hopefully this will do some good."

Amen to that. If you give a knobhead a knife, they will stab you with it. Give a nice person a knife, they'll slice you some bread.

Same theory applies to Staffies, as long as you don't take the knife/bread bit too literally.

Topics: UK News, TV and Film, Animals, Dogs

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey