Evaluation of new registrations at TASSO shows popular dog breeds
Eschborn. When it comes to the most popular dogs in Germany, the familiar picture will remain the same in 2025: mixed breeds continue to clearly lead the top 10 – even ahead of the Labrador, which maintains the top position among purebred dogs. This emerges from an evaluation by the animal protection organization TASSO, which operates Europe's largest free pet registry. In the period from January 1st to December 31st, 2025, mixed races were most frequently registered with TASSO by far, as usual. They alone accounted for 92,976 new registrations.
With 13,109 new registrations for 2025, the Labrador is the most popular classic dog breed. The preference for Labradors is also reflected in the evaluations of the individual federal states. After the mixed breed, the Labrador takes the top spot in most regions. Only in Saxony-Anhalt were there a handful more new registrations for the German Shepherd Dog (7,963), which is after all nationwide after the Golden Retriever (8,044) is in 4th place and is once again ahead of the Chihuahua (7,607) pushed. French bulldogs remain in 6th and 7th place (6,449) and Australian Shepherd (5.276). There have been changes in the lower part of the table: The Dachshund's new entry is in 8th place (3,254) and the toy poodle (3,202) Maltese and Havanese pushed out of the top 10 in 10th place. The Jack Russell Terrier (3,458) lands in 9th place.
As exciting as this overview is, the animal protection organization TASSO is also concerned about the trends in dog breeds. Because the annual ranking is also an 'early warning system'. “It's not good for dog breeds to be 'trendy',” explains Heike Weber, Head of Animal Welfare at TASSO. “Increased popularity often leads to more demand, promotes dubious breeding and also fuels the illegal puppy trade,” she criticizes. If responsible breeders can no longer meet demand, the chances increase for dubious breeders who often keep the animals in other European countries under the most unwelcome conditions, transport them across half of Europe and then hand them over to unwitting interested parties, often sick, unsocialized and with numerous hidden problems.
It is particularly worrying when dog breeds with torturous breeding traits are in vogue. “Heads that are too small, deliberate dwarfism, flat noses – what many people find cute is unfortunately often nothing more than animal cruelty,” says Weber. What can help? Especially changes at the legal level. Weber: “An important measure would be a better animal protection law that clearly prohibits cruel breeding and regulates online trading more strictly so that animals can no longer be sold anonymously and unchecked. In addition, the introduction of a nationwide uniform labeling and registration requirement is an important and long overdue instrument.” But that's not enough. Weber believes that we pet owners can also do something: “Supposed ideals of beauty in animals must not obscure the fact that they are often associated with health problems. Those who act responsibly take animal welfare and their own realities into account equally and also give animals from animal welfare a chance.”