U.S. State Dogs

U.S. State Dogs

Eleven states of the United States have designated an official state dog breed. Maryland was the first state to name a dog breed as a state symbol, naming the Chesapeake Bay Retriever in 1964. Pennsylvania followed the year after, naming the Great Dane as its official breed. Dog breeds are mostly affiliated with the states that they originated in. North Carolina chose the Plott Hound as it was the only dog breed indigenous to the state. Other official state dogs also are indigenous to their state, including the Boston Terrier (Massachusetts) and the Alaskan Malamute (Alaska). Pennsylvania selected the Great Dane not because of its origin, but because it was introduced by early settlers in the state to be used as a hunting and working dog; it was chosen over the Beagle, which was also proposed around the same time.

Two of the more recent successful campaigns to name a state dog have been started by schoolchildren. In 2007, Alaskan kindergarten student Paige Hill's idea created the campaign for the Alaskan Malamute which would convince Representative Berta Gardner to support the bill in 2009, with it becoming law in 2010. Elementary school students from Bedford, New Hampshire won their campaign for the Chinook to be accepted as a symbol of their state in 2009.

There have been a variety of campaigns in other states to select a state dog. Georgia was undecided over choosing a state dog in 1991, with an attempt to make the Golden Retriever the official dog failing after a vote in the Georgia State Senate; an opposing campaign promoted the Bulldog, the mascot of the University of Georgia. The campaign to make the Siberian Husky the Washington state dog failed in the Washington House of Representatives in 2004. In 2006, New York State Assembly member Vincent Ignizio suggested that New York should adopt a dog as a state symbol, and during the campaign to name the Western Painted Turtle as state reptile for Colorado in 2008, it was suggested by local press that the Labrador Retriever would be suitable as a symbol, even though it is not native to the state. While in Kansas as early as 2006, residents have suggested the Cairn Terrier as the state dog due to the breed's appearance as Toto in the film The Wizard of Oz. In 2012, Representative Ed Trimmer tabled a bill proposing the Cairn Terrier as a state symbol.

Although Delaware and South Dakota do not have state dog breeds, they do list the gray fox and coyote, respectively—canine species related to the dog—as their state wildlife animals. In Minnesota, legislation has been proposed on six different occasions to adopt the Eastern Timber Wolf as the state animal.