Eleven states of the United States have designated an official state dog breed, and Maryland lead the way by being the first state to do it in 1964 by naming – what else –  the Chesapeake Bay Retriever as its state dog. Virginia came next in 1966 by naming George Washington’s breed, the American Foxhound, its state dog. Pennsylvania followed by making the Great Dane its official breed.

Unlike the Great Dane, the dogs that were named  tended to have an affiliation with the states in which they originated. In 1979, Louisiana designed the Catahoula Leopard Dog its state dog (believed to be the first breed developed in North America). A few years later in 1985, South Carolina named the Boykin Spaniel as its state dog, the same year, Wisconsin paid homage to the American Water Spaniel. Four years later, North Carolina chose the Plott Hound in 1989 (the only breed indigenous to the state). The Boston Terrier was so honored by Massachusetts, as was the Alaskan Malamute by Alaska (Pennsylvania chose the Great Dane not because of its origin, but because it was came with early settlers to the state as a hunting and working dog. As an aside, Beagle owners get pouting rights since the Dane was chosen over their breed proposed around the same time).  The wholly Texan breed, the Blue Lacy, was honored by Texas in 2005, and in 2009, elementary school students from Bedford succeeded in a campaign to make the Chinook a canine symbol of New Hampshire.

Not every state bill that proposes a state dog breed is successful.

In what makes perfect sense to us, Kansas nominated the Cairn Terrier as its state dog in 2012, a proposal that was tabled;

• In 1991, Georgia attempted to make the Golden Retriever the official state dog. Opponents preferred the Bulldog, the mascot of the University of Georgia. In the end, both efforts failed, the legislature choosing instead to name the “adoptable dog” as the state dog;
• When Labrador lover, Staci Gile approached lawmakers with a proposal to make Labrador Retrievers Maine’s State Dog, the State and Local Government Committee voted 9-2 in favor of rejecting the bill;
• Becky Davis, owner of eight Newfoundlands, argued in 2016 that because a Newfoundland named “Seaman” accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the West, Oregon should name the breed its state dog, but as far as we can tell, her efforts to get the attention of the Legislature for years has largely failed.
• The Siberian Husky was proposed as the state dog of Washington in 2004, but the campaign fell through in the House of Representatives;
•  In what makes perfect sense to us, the Cairn Terrier was proposed as the state dog of Kansas in 2006.  The bill was tabled in 2012;
• When Colorado faced a proposal by schoolchildren learning about the legislative process asking that they make “rescue pets” the state dog, they ignored opposition from purebred proponents. In 2015, Colorado became the first state in the country to recognize May 1 as National Purebred Dog Day, a resolution that is now in the United States Congress.  Ha.

Image of “Toto” from the Wizard of Oz