FILE- In this March 28, 2018 file photo, Labrador retrievers Soave, 2, left, and Hola, 10-months, pose for photographs as Harbor, 8-weeks, takes a nap during a news conference at the American Kennel Club headquarters in New York. The Labrador retriever is the American Kennel Club's most popular U.S. purebred dog of 2018. Labs topped the list for the 28th year in a row. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

FILE- In this March 28, 2018 file photo, Labrador retrievers Soave, 2, left, and Hola, 10-months, pose for photographs every bit Harbor, viii-weeks, takes a nap during a news conference at the American Kennel Club headquarters in New York. The Labrador retriever is the American Kennel Club'due south most popular U.Due south. purebred canis familiaris of 2018. Labs topped the list for the 28th yr in a row. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

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NEW YORK (AP) — Labrador retrievers aren't letting go of their hold on U.South. domestic dog lovers, but German language shorthaired pointers are tugging on the top ranks of doggy popularity, according to new American Kennel Lodge data.

Labs topped the list for the 28th twelvemonth in a row. Yet there'due south been plenty of move over time on the purebred pup-ularity ladder.

Here's a look at the 2018 rankings being released Wednesday.

THE Meridian 10

After Labs, the top five breeds nationwide are German shepherds, gilded retrievers, French bulldogs and bulldogs. Rounding out the acme ten are beagles, poodles, Rottweilers, German shorthaired pointers and Yorkshire terriers.

Labs smashed the record for longest tenure as top dog back in 2013. Fans credit the Lab's generally amiable nature and aptitude in many canine roles: bomb-sniffer, service dog, hunters' helper, dog-sport competitor and patient family pet.

At No. 9, the High german shorthaired arrow notched its highest ranking since getting AKC recognition in 1930. These strikingly speckled hunting dogs are too versatile — some work as drug- and bomb-detectors — and active companions.

"I think people are learning about how fun the breed is," says AKC spokeswoman Brandi Hunter.

The suddenly ubiquitous French bulldog remains the fourth most pop breed for a second year, after surging from 83rd a quarter-century ago.

THE NUMBERS:

The rankings reflect a brood's prevalence among the 580,900 puppies and other purebred dogs newly registered in 2018 with the AKC, the country's oldest such registry. Some 88,175 of these dogs were Labs.

AKC says registrations, which are voluntary, take been growing for six years.

Estimates of the full number of pet dogs nationwide range from almost lxx one thousand thousand to ninety million.

THE Consistent FAVE

Beagles, at present No. 6, can boast they're uniquely beloved. No other brood has made the top 10 in every decade since record-keeping began in the 1880s.

Why? "They're a skilful general family domestic dog," lively, friendly, relatively low-maintenance and comfortable with children, says breeder Kevin Shupenia of Dacula, Georgia. Beagles besides work sniffing out contraband meat and plants at airports, detecting bedbugs in homes and doing their traditional job: hunting rabbits.

"They take a sense of sense of humor, and they're just characters," Shupenia says.

THE RAREST OF THEM ALL:

The well-nigh scant breed was the sloughi (pronounced SLOO'-ghee). The greyhound-like dog has a long history in North Africa but garnered AKC recognition merely 3 years agone. It replaces the Norwegian lundehund in the rarest-brood spot.

HOW DID DOODLES DO?

Wonder where goldendoodles, puggles, or cockapoos stand up? You lot won't observe these and other popular "designer dogs" amid the 193 breeds recognized and ranked by the AKC.

That'due south not to say they never volition be, if their fanciers so want. New breeds join the club periodically, subsequently meeting criteria that include having at least 300 dogs nationwide and three generations.

Meanwhile, designer and just plain mixed-brood dogs can sign upward with AKC to compete in such sports every bit agility, dock diving and obedience.

THE WHYS, PROS AND CONS OF POPULARITY

Many factors tin influence a brood's popularity: ease of care, exposure from Television set and movies, and famous owners, to name a few.

Popularity spurts can expand knowledge about a breed, merely many people in dogdom rue slipshod breeding by people trying to cash in on sudden cachet.

Elaine Albert, a longtime chow chow owner and one-time breeder, is glad the ancient Chinese dog is now 75th in the rankings, afterward leaping into the height 10 in the 1980s. Albert recalls that she and other chow rescue volunteers were swamped as people gave up dogs with temperament and health problems, which she attributes to careless convenance.

"I certainly wouldn't want (chows) to be number one, ever," says Albert, of Hauppauge, New York. "They vest where they are.... They're non for everybody."

On the other paw, aficionados of rare breeds sometimes worry about sustaining them.

THE PUREBRED DEBATE

Some animal-welfare groups experience the pursuit of purebred dogs puts their looks ahead of their health and diverts people from adopting pets. Critics also say the AKC needs to do more to thwart puppy mills.

The club says it encourages responsible convenance of healthy dogs, not as a beauty contest simply to preserve traits that have helped dogs do particular jobs.