Record pets.

It’s a pupularity contest

REMEMBER Top of the Pops? New in at No10 is Jimmy Osmond, with Puppy Love. Dropping five places to No9 is David Bowie singing Cat People. Up three is Baha Men and Who Let The Dogs Out?

You get the picture. It seems the Kennel Club (KC) do the same sort of thing with dog breeds and the changes in the top 10 of puppy registrations over the last decade are very interesting.

It won’t surprise you to know that the Labrador Retriever – much-loved, family-suitable and loyal and true – has retained the top spot pretty consistently, barring one brief period when the French Bulldog grasped the crown.

In 2009, however, the Cocker Spaniel held the No2 position and the only slightly less athletic French Bulldog has come from nowhere to push it down to No3.

Similarly, the Springer Spaniel, bold and full of

BY NEIL McINTOSH stamina, has been usurped in the No4 position by the basically breathless Bulldog.

There seems to be a pattern appearing here.

But wait. The dear old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel – impossibly endearing but riddled with heart, knee and brain problems – has dropped out of sight from No5, thus saving the Springers’ blushes as they take its place.

The Golden Retriever, another firm family favourite, has jumped two to No6, just above a new entry at No7, the miniature smooth-haired Dachshund.

Also new at No8, and suffering from a similar number of health issues, is the Pug, while no9 is a big dropper from No4, the German Shepherd.

Another new entry at No10

SUNDAY ● Hamilton Canine Clubs open show, Lanark Agricultural Centre, 9.30am FEBRUARY 12 ● Upperward of Lanarkshire is the Miniature Schnauzer. Gone altogether are the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the Border Terrier, the Boxer and the West Highland White Terrier. Whoever would have thought it?

What the top 10 figures don’t show, however, are the other rising breeds.

These include other types of Dachshund (many destined to suffer back problems), the Pomeranian (small enough to fit into a handbag but often epileptic or Cushingoid), the Chow Chow (good luck dealing with that coat) and the Japanese Shiba Inu (which quite literally means small dog but cast that thought aside if you are a novice dog owner trying to train one).

And the dogs that are falling out the charts altogether?

The Pointer, the Jack Russell and the Sussex Spaniel. Though the latter has made somewhat of a surprising comeback this last year. I can’t imagine why.

Canine Societies limited show in Larkhall. Schedules: Mrs M. Gardner, Rewari Kennels, Whiteshaw Road, Carluke, ML8 5HE. Tel: 01555 751 258. Entries close January 28.