Scooby-doo and mystery of the vanishing Great Dane

THE popularity of Great Danes has fallen to its lowest level in 50 years, the Kennel Club has warned, because pet owners now prefer smaller dogs. The organisation, set up in 1873, operates the national register of pedigree dogs and said Great Danes peaked in popularity in the Seventies and Eighties.

Since then, the number of puppies registered has steadily declined, with just 855 pups registered last year, the lowest in five decades. Great Danes, the breed on which Scoobydoo is based, soared when the animated character hit television screens. But a spokesman for the Kennel Club said: “Statistics show that registrations of Great Dane puppies have plummeted by 69 per cent since 1980.

“In 1969, when the animation aired for the first time on television, the breed jumped by 24 per cent in popularity.

“Great Danes enjoyed their peak in 1980, as the Scooby-doo and Scrappy-doo spin-off series first appeared, with nearly 3,000 puppies registered that year. “Following this ‘puppy power’, the breed steadily began to drop in numbers. It’s a similar story across the UK’S ‘top dogs’, as small dogs surge in popularity.” Compared to 20 years ago, all large breeds but the Labrador have declined in popularity. The popularity of German shepherds has decreased by 62 per cent while the Labrador retriever is Britain’s most popular with more than 35,000 registered in 2019. Bill Lambert, of the Kennel Club, said: “With the increase in busy lifestyles and city living … perhaps it isn’t such a ‘mystery’ why the breed has become less popular.”

The Great Dane can claim no particular connection with Denmark, even if the dog breed’s large size might help achieve that sense of hygge, or cosiness, that the Danes tend to prize in their sitting rooms. No, Great Danes were originally German, and in the last century gained a curious popularity among cartoon families in the United States – Marmaduke, Astro and Scooby Doo. Then again, Americans have much bigger houses than we Brits, and as we report today, these giants among dogs are no longer as popular here as they once were. It is not much of a mystery: the average size of a British home has been shrinking. It would be a shame if the parks and pavements were filled only with chihuahuas and dachshunds, but it would be a greater shame if every terrace, flat and bungalow contained a dog that struggled to fit.