National Dog Survey 2026: Milo overtakes Teddy as greyhounds climb

Dogs Trust’s first 2026 results put Poppy and Milo at the top of the name charts, while greyhounds rise sharply—and 180,000 participants reveal how far dogs shape everyday life.

Edited by Scoop · 5 minute read · 15 September 2026

There is a new answer to one of the nation’s most competitive park-bench questions: what is everyone calling their dog? Poppy still leads the female list, but Milo has nudged past Teddy among males.

Dogs Trust’s first National Dog Survey 2026 results bring together responses from 180,000 participants. Alongside the name tables, the charity reports that greyhounds have climbed from 15th place in its 2023 breed ranking to sixth this year.

The release is less a census of every UK dog than a large snapshot of people who chose to take part. Read that way, it captures both the familiar—Labradors remain the leading single breed—and the quieter ways dogs alter holidays, jobs, social plans and conversations with strangers.

Poppy holds on, while Milo moves ahead

Poppy tops the female-name table with 1,868 dogs in the published results. Luna follows on 1,842, with Bella third on 1,615. The top of the male list has changed: Milo leads with 1,425, ahead of Teddy on 1,339 and Buddy on 1,220.

Dogs Trust says the wider top ten remains broadly stable, but traditional names are returning among newly named dogs. Winnie and Mabel are the examples it highlights. The charity suggests that the overlap with baby-name fashions may reflect the way respondents see dogs as family; that is an interpretation, not proof that one trend caused the other.

The figures are counts within the survey responses, not a national dog register. They tell us what appeared in this very large volunteer sample rather than the exact number of Poppys or Milos living across the UK.

Greyhounds make the most striking breed move

Unknown mixed-breed dogs account for 10% of dogs in the published breakdown. Labradors remain the most common single breed at 8%, and Cocker Spaniels, Cockapoos and Golden Retrievers all stay in the top five.

Greyhounds provide the largest movement singled out by Dogs Trust. The breed is sixth in the 2026 ranking after sitting 15th as recently as 2023. That is a rise within this survey series; it should not be stretched into a claim that greyhound ownership has increased by a particular national percentage.

The survey overview says participation was open to UK residents aged 18 or over, including people without a dog. Dogs Trust also says the project received independent ethics approval and that its research team analyses the anonymous responses.

Dogs are changing diaries as well as name charts

The most revealing numbers may be about decisions rather than breeds. Of owners who answered, 36% said they had chosen a staycation instead of travelling abroad because of their dog, while 35% had cancelled social plans to stay at home with them.

Nearly 15% said they had changed jobs or working patterns for their dog. At the same time, 45% agreed ownership is hard work and 96% said having a dog is good for their mental health.

Those statements describe respondents’ experiences. They do not show that dog ownership caused better mental health, nor do they measure outcomes against people without dogs. The useful finding is the strength of feeling inside this participant group—and the practical commitments sitting beside it.

The social figures reach beyond dog owners

Dogs Trust reports that 82% of surveyed owners had more positive interactions with strangers because of their dog. Eighty-five per cent agreed dogs help bring people together, and 87% said dogs can bridge social gaps between people from different backgrounds.

The non-owner responses add another angle: 79% of non-owners who took part said they enjoy meeting dog owners in their community. Again, this was a self-selected group of dog-interested participants, not a randomly sampled national opinion poll.

Still, the combination explains why name lists travel so well. They begin as a bit of park-level curiosity, then open into a broader picture of dogs as social introductions, household priorities and, occasionally, the reason a calendar gets rewritten.

What the first results do not yet answer

Dogs Trust describes this release as the first set of 2026 results. It says later instalments will cover shared owner experiences and dog behaviour, so the current page should not be treated as the final report.

The charity’s 2025 results drew responses from 342,974 people, compared with the 180,000 participants cited this year. That difference does not by itself show falling interest: the 2026 page is explicitly an initial release, and the public pages do not provide enough methodological detail to make a clean year-on-year participation comparison.

For now, the sturdy conclusions are modest and rather appealing: Poppy remains top, Milo has overtaken Teddy, greyhounds have risen within the survey ranking, and many respondents organise substantial parts of life around their dogs.

Sources and update record

Published 15 September 2026. The Dogs Trust 2026 results, survey overview and participation information and 2025 results were checked on 15 September. A dated current-news listing was used to establish the 14 September release peg. Percentages describe survey respondents and should not be read as population estimates. The illustration is conceptual and does not depict a real survey participant or named dog.