Favorite Pets for the Older Generation | ZENOAQ [Nippon Zenyaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.]

Japan is known for the high percentage of purebred dogs in its pet dog population. Very recently one of the major newspapers conducted a survey to see what breeds were actually preferred by the people of the country. The survey targeted the 50 and over senior population as they are increasingly becoming the major part of the country's population. The most preferred breed of dog amongst the older generation of Japan is the country's national breed, the shiba inu. This is not surprising as the shiba has always been quite popular domestically. The runner up was more surprising. The next favorite breed was the Akita. This breed is large and often times difficult to handle. It comes as a bit of a surprise to see that many people are looking at the Akita as a preferable pet dog. This may in part be due to the popularity of the movie "Hachi" starring an ever loyal Akita. The third and fourth places go to the golden retriever and the Labrador retriever respectively. These two breeds have been popular amongst dog lovers in Japan for quite some time now perhaps due to their image as smart and helpful because of their use as guide and service dogs. The fifth place is again a big surprise. Coming into fifth place is another Japanese domestic breed, the Kishu dog.
These dogs are also know for their large size and somewhat stubborn nature. Like the Akita they are not easy to handle. Again it is a mystery why this particular breed should rank so high in breed preference. Perhaps the senior population have a stronger tendency to lean towards national breeds as compared to the younger generation. That would be one way to explain why these difficult dogs rank so high. The survey was conducted to find out not "what dogs are being kept" but rather to see what dogs people "want to keep". Therefore there may be an emotional factor rather that the practical dictating the decisions. Looking into what breeds are preferred by the younger generation a survey of the "under fifty" population ranked the shiba inu as the top breed. The shiba is certainly an all time favorite! The Akita came in second, again perhaps influenced by the movie. The golden retriever came in third but the Labrador ranked lower than in the senior population. The toy poodle ranked fourth after the golden retriever , followed by the miniature dachshund. These last two breeds are the ones seen most often walking the streets of Japanese cities and it is no wonder that they appear within the top ranks of the favorite breeds, though it is surprising that they do not appear in the top five of the "senior preferences". It is also interesting to note that the younger generation preferred smaller breeds as compared to the seniors.
As for cats, the most popular breed amongst all age groups was the Japanese bobtail.
Though there was a slight differences in order, the same cat breed appeared in the top five of both the older and the younger generation. These cat breeds were the American shorthair, the Persian, and the Russian blue. For both age groups, mixed breed cats came in fifth. Again it is interesting to note this difference between dogs and cats. In the dog survey mixed breeds did not appear . This is probably because as mentioned earlier , Japanese dog owners in general seem to prefer purebred dogs. And the same is not quite true for cat owners......why is that?

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