Are Border Collies Popular? Taking The 31st Spot
The Border Collie is amongst the most beloved breeds of dogs in the world. But just how popular is the breed? In this post, we’ll be going over how popular the breed really is (with some rankings) which breed is the most popular as well as mentioning which countries the breed is known to be the most popular in.
Are Border Collies Popular
Border Collies could be classified as moderately popular. They’re neither the star of the show, nor completely forgettable either.
Brains don’t necessarily trump looks in this case, since even though Collies are considered the smartest dog breed in the world, the latest statistics from the American Kennel Club (AKC.org) have positioned the breed in the top 30 most popular breeds of 2021.
More specifically, the 31st spot amongst 197 different breeds, which it’s been improving since it’s 51st spot back in 2008 as per the site.
Not so bad ey?
For some perspective on whether or not Border Collies are popular, here’s a screenshot of Google trends in the past years for some of the more popular breeds of dogs, the Border Collie, and some maybe…lesser known dogs (that you’ve probably never heard about) so that you can compare their popularity.
What Is The Most Popular Dog Breed?
The most popular breed of dog, is currently the Labrador or Retriever, which has taken the top spot of the rankings for the 31rst year in a row as of the writing of this article.
This rating takes into account only registrations, but honestly it should consider various characteristics and different variables like overall health and lifespan, maintenance, difficulty or ease of training, tidiness, prowess, versatility, how much to feed, how often to bathe, capacity to work well as a service dog, intelligence, and many other factors.
With that said, even though the Border Collie is an excellent dog, it’s not the most flexible or versatile of dogs as it’s more skewed towards the energetic working dog side of things and isn’t as adaptable to every situation. The Border Collie has, after all, been bred initially solely for its herding ability which they of course do excel at.
Where Are Border Collies The Most Popular
The Border Collie is a breed that is thought to have originated along the Anglo-Scottish border, and most of the Border Collies that are alive today, can be traced back to one specific dog known as Old Hemp.
Of course, Scotland is not where Borders are most popular today…but they had their beginnings in the border (hence the name) of England & Scotland, and quickly began being exported to other countries, as owners could clearly see immense use for some of the traits that breeders had started harnessing through their selections.
As a result, purebred, top quality, hard working Border Collies were seen as a scarce commodity and ended up in countries like New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and the United States, making the Border Collie a mainstay.
Today, Border Collies are popular and fairly well known all over the world, and based on this article here, are the most popular breed of dogs in the countries of Israel, Australia, Uruguay, Iceland, Spain and Belgium.
Are Border Collies Rare
Border Collies are not an extremely rare breed at all since they’re one of top, most recognizable, beloved and prevalent dogs all over the world including countries Australia, South America and Europe.
With that said, there are some “more rare” or less common variations of the breed and can usually be differentiated by their coat colors.
Anything outside of the traditional black/white, could be considered more “rare” colors, within the Border Collie breed, and this includes:
- Blue Merle
- Red Merle
- Gold
- Lilac
- Slate
- Brindle
- Tri color Border Collies
These variations of the Collie breed are less common, as the genetic trait for black coat is the dominant one. Variations of the classic black, are recessive in nature so even if you cross-breed Merle Collies, you’ll still have a high likelihood of the dominant trait being more common.
