How Much Is That Doggie From The Movie?

by Stephen Heyman

Practically no one in the United States owned an Old English sheepdog until 1959, when a particularly adorable one named Chiffon appeared in the Walt Disney film “The Shaggy Dog” and sent breed registrations, as tracked by the American Kennel Club, through the roof. Over the next decade, the number of registered sheepdogs climbed to 4,226 from 112 — an increase of more than 3,600 percent.

The case of “The Shaggy Dog” is one of dozens of examples in a new study about the way cinema influences the popularity of certain dog breeds. And the more popular a film, the stronger its effect: Collie registrations more than doubled within two years of “Lassie Comes Home” (1943) and Saint Bernards spiked dramatically after “Beethoven” (1992).

Meanwhile, some breeds fell out of favor after the release of a few of the films — some of them critical or box office duds. Siberian Husky registrations, for instance, plummeted in the 1990s after the release of “Iron Will” (1994) and “Balto” (1995).

Continue reading the entire New York Times article here.

Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=63876

Posted by chesliepickett on Nov 6 2014. Filed under The Buzz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.