Country search term analysis
As you can see, America, UK, Canada and Australia have the highest search term number and volumes. While volumes numbers are relative to the population and Google search engine popularity, the term numbers give a direct indication of dog popularity.
The biggest countries and their dogs
China (popn 1.3 B), India (1.2 B) and Brazil (190 M) are the three largest countries analyzed. As you can see they all have relatives low Google searches for dog associated terms.
Unlike the developed countries, these developing nations dogs associated searches are terms that are usually much further down the search list for developing nations. For example in China the second and third terms are ‘Dog clothes’ (880) and ‘dog tags’ (590). India’s top term, like china is ‘dogs’, however two of the top five terms are ‘dog pictures’ (18,100) and ‘pictures of dogs’ (6,600).
Besides the cost of dog ownership,, one major reason for low search values is cultural bias against dogs. China for instance still practices eating dogs in many areas. In India there is still a massive problem with dog diseases such as rabies.
European dog markets
Germany (213), France (137) and Italy (100) dog searches are analyzed. These very developed and populous countries have relatively low dog search volumes. Germany’s top term like most countries is ‘dogs’ (8,100) however two of its five top terms are ‘dog tag’ related (2,900 and 2,400 searches).
France’s top dog related search is a very humane ‘dog pound’ (18,100). The second term is for ‘dog de bordeaux’ (or the French Mastiff breed) with 2,900 searches and ‘dog sitting’ (1,600). Italy only has 100 search terms but has the caring number one term of ‘dog sitter’ (2,400). Number three term ‘bull dog’ (1,300) shows that this breed is popular in Italy.
Ireland while having a low population rates only second to the UK in dog search popularity on a ‘per capita’ basis (see graph below). Ireland like UK also shows a very humane dog search trend with Ireland’s second, fourth and fifth terms being dogs trust (6,600); ‘dogs in distress’ (4,400) and ‘dogs trust Ireland’ (3,600).
Dog countries that don’t search
Russia (142 M popn) has only 39 search terms. Its main term is ‘bernese mountain dogs’ (1,600) which even outranks ‘dogs’ (1,300). Like Brazil and Germany people in Russia also search for ‘cats and dogs’ together (720). The next two terms are ‘dog pound’ (390) then a brand of dog food at 320 searches.
Israel (38 terms) has ‘dogs’ as its main search (1,900) however except for the popularity of Cesar’s ‘dog whisperer’ (480) three of the top five terms are dog disease related – ‘Frontline plus for dogs’ (1,300); ‘lyme disease in dogs’ (720) and ‘ticks on dogs’ (480).
Japan (127 M popn) have a very low 27,000 adjusted dog searches across 35 terms! Japan mostly searches for ‘dog’ (2,400), ‘ hound dog’ (1,600); ‘the dog’ (720), ‘dog food’ (590).
Global Dog e-matrix comparison
The previous information gives an indication of a trend in dog search values, but it is not until a plot of adjusted dog searches per population is made against the ‘wealth per capita’ for each country that a definite trend is seen.
It makes sense that more wealthy countries (who have some level of middle class) are able to more afford keeping dogs. However a plot of Google dog associated searches versus wealth shows that the relationship is nearly logarithmic, with a ‘tipping point’ where a certain level of income per person is required before a countries searches (and therefore strong interest in dogs) is able to really take off.
In the process of making such a graph and making a theory from it, all raw search values for coun tries are ‘normalized’ so that a fair comparison can be made. That is Google search volumes are adjusted relative to internet usage in each country and Google market share. This means that all values can be assessed independent of the search engine used, and the data is genuinely comparable.
Using this data, the UK and Ireland are seen globally as the two most dog interested countries, per capita. With many breeds coming from this part of Europe and the continuing strong use of work dogs on farms and in society, these values are not surprising.
The next level of global dog interest are seen from America, Australia and Canada. These countries are all highly developed, English speaking and culturally connected (based on UK / English settlements).
The difference between the leading dog search countries and the European countries is that they do not speak English as a first language, and size wise the city high development may not allow much room to keep dogs.
CONCLUSIONS
Interest and love of dogs is foremost a cultural issue. Regardless of the wealth and development of a country, a countries people must love and respect dogs to have them as pets. India, China and Brazil, regardless of culture do not have sufficient wealth for wide spread responsible dog ownership (quality food and vet bills) which means that they may feed strays but dogs are not often directly owned or registered with Governments as pets.
The UK and Ireland are by far the two Cheri Honnas leading countries for online search information on dogs per capita. This is possibly due to their very long history of reliance on dogs for protection and company. The other European countries typically have a very low search interest in dogs, even though their dog ownership is relatively high. High density living and local government restrictions (noise laws etc) are likely to be the cause. Analysis of the top 50 terms searched in a country often gives a clue to the cultural interest in dogs. In the UK and Ireland they also have mainly a humane connection with dogs – for example, dog welfare homes having very high search levels.
The two most populous countries, China and India have very low search interest on information on dogs (even after being adjusted for internet usage and Google share). While this is predicted by their low ‘wealth per capita’ value, the search terms also show that they don’t search for humane terms or how to train dogs etc, but rather a more image related view eg China has a top five term related to ‘dog clothes’ and India’s two top 5 terms are related to ‘pictures of dogs’.