Chihuahuas outbark Labradors in Swiss households

Big or small, cuddly or dangerous - there are more than 500 different dog breeds in Switzerland Keystone

Cross-breeds are by far the most popular canines ahead of Chihuahuas and Labradors in Switzerland, according to an official dog register.

Of the 543,596 dogs registered in the Amicus dog database, about 149,000 were mongrels, while the 25,000 Chihuahuas outnumbered the Labradors at the end of June this year.

Yorkshire Terriers and Jack Russels were also in the top five, while the Swiss-bred Bernese Mountain Dog species dropped out of the top ten ranking and came 11^th place compared with 2016 statistics.

There were also about 7,000 potentially dangerous dogs, including 2,100 American Staffordshire Terriers, 2,000 Rottweilers as well as Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Pit Bull Terriers and Bull Terriers, according to the Amicus register.

Following a deadly attack on a child in 2005, several of the country’s 26 cantons introduced a licence system for dog owners or even banned certain potentially dangerous breeds.

500 dog breeds

Altogether 500 different dog breeds are listed in the database, which is run on behalf of the cantonal authorities. All dogs must be registeredExternal link and have a micro-chip in Switzerland under regulations introduced more than a decade ago in a bid to prevent illegal imports of canines.

The most popular dog names in Switzerland are Luna, ahead of Rocky, Kira, Lucky, Bella, Snoopy and Max.

The latest figures on the human population in Switzerland also came out on Wednesday.

At the end of 2016, there were 8,419,600 people living in the country, an increase of 92,400 people – or 1.1% – over the past 12 months, according to data published by the Federal Statistics Office.