The Golden Retriever is Michigan’s Top Dog!

A new study has revealed that the Golden Retriever is Michigan’s most-searched dog breed.

The research, conducted by the pet insurance comparison website Pet Insurance Deals, analyzed Google search data across the nation to determine which dog breeds Americans are most interested in.

Michigan’s top five most-searched dog breeds

Golden Retrievers top the list as Michigan’s most searched dog breed, racking up an impressive 31,348 searches each month. Coming in second are Australian Shepherds with 23,313 monthly searches, while Bernese Mountain Dogs aren’t far behind, taking third place with 21,681.

Golden Retrievers rank first with more than 1 million monthly U.S. searches, 40% more than the second most popular breed in this study, the Australian Shepherd, which averaged 768,817 searches. The French Bulldog ranks third nationally, with 733,713 monthly searches.

The Golden Retriever is the most-searched breed in all but one state, Utah. California residents showed the strongest interest, with 136,772 monthly searches for the breed, the highest volume for any breed in any state. Texas followed with 97,558 searches, while Florida rounded out the top three states with 83,569 monthly searches for Golden Retrievers.

Utah is the only state where Bernese Mountain Dogs lead, with 10,010 monthly searches. Golden Retrievers follow closely with 9,975.

The study revealed some surprising findings about traditionally popular breeds. Labrador Retrievers, often cited as America’s most popular breed by registration organizations, ranked only 27th with 239,182 monthly searches. Beagles came in at 59th place with just 140,765 monthly searches.

Tom Sadler, managing director of Pet Insurance Deals commented on the findings,

“During our research, we uncovered a fun fact: The Golden Retriever, which is often seen as “America’s dog,” has become symbolic of the American way of living, actually originated from Scotland in the United Kingdom.

“In fact, the only dog breed in the top ten to originate in the U.S. is the Australian Shepherd. Despite the name, it was originally bred by ranchers in the 1800s in western states like California and Colorado.

“It’s easy to see why Golden Retrievers topped this study: their friendly temperament, intelligence, and adaptability make them ideal family companions, which explains why they’re so consistently popular across different lifestyles and climates.”

Monthly average search volume data was taken from Google Keyword Planner based on searches over the 12 months between March 2024 and February 2025 to reveal the rankings. The top 288 most popular dog breeds were analyzed based on searches for: “[dog_breed] breed”, “[dog_breed] dog”, “[dog_breed] near me”, “[dog_breed] puppies for sale”, “[dog_breed] puppy”, “[dog_breed] rescue”, “adopt [dog_breed]”, and “buy [dog_breed]”. The combined search volume for each dog breed’s search terms was calculated and then used to rank and determine each state’s most popular 5 dog breeds.