Dogs in the 1960s: popular breeds and space dogs

Part 1

Which breeds topped the charts in the 1960s

The Poodle strutted into the number-one position in the 1960s and became the first breed to hold that spot for two consecutive decades. The German Shepherd Dog, which had been the top breed of the 1920s, held the number-two spot for both the 1960s and the 1970s. The Beagle came in third for the decade. If your own dog is one of these breeds, it shares its decade with a lot of company.

Looking at registration trends over a longer stretch, the Poodle was the most popular breed from 1960 all the way to 1982. Before that, the Beagle had held the top spot from 1952 to 1959. And before the Beagle, the Maltese had been the most popular breed from 1936 to 1952.

The AKC's top ten breeds of the decade

1. The Poodle ranked number one among AKC breeds of the 1960s.
2. The German Shepherd Dog ranked number two.
3. The Beagle ranked number three.
4. The Dachshund ranked number four.
5. The Chihuahua ranked number five.
6. The Pekingese ranked number six.
7. The Collie ranked number seven.
8. The Miniature Schnauzer ranked number eight.
9. The Cocker Spaniel ranked number nine.
10. The Basset Hound ranked number ten.

Part 2

What made the top three stand out

The German Shepherd Dog was known for its courage and its ability to take on training for special services, including police work and guiding the blind. The Beagle had gained ground in the United States after well-bred dogs were imported from England in the 1860s. The Poodle, despite its glamorous reputation as a show dog, had originally been used as a working retriever. Whatever breed sits beside you now, its popularity has its own history like this.

Part 3

Dogs sent into space during the decade

The Soviet space program kept using dogs for suborbital and orbital test flights through the 1950s and into the 1960s, to check whether human spaceflight was feasible. Scientists mostly chose female dogs, because a special waste-collection suit was designed to fit them, and they preferred stray dogs, believing they could better tolerate the stress of flight. Training included time in pressure chambers, rides in centrifuges to mimic rocket acceleration, and long periods confined in small enclosures. The dogs were fed a special jelly-like mixture of breadcrumbs, powdered meat, and beef fat.

Kosmos 110's 22-day mission

On February 22, 1966, the Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 110 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying two dogs, Veterok and Ugolyok. Their names meant little breeze and little ember. The spacecraft flew into a highly elliptical orbit that reached the Van Allen radiation belts, so scientists could study both weightlessness and radiation exposure over a long stretch. The dogs landed safely on March 16, after about 22 days and 330 orbits of the Earth.

The long flight put real strain on the two dogs. When they returned, Veterok and Ugolyok showed dehydration, weight loss, and loss of muscle and coordination, and it took them several weeks to recover fully. Later examinations also found muscle atrophy, loss of bone calcium, and changes in blood chemistry. If you have ever worried about your own dog after a long journey, this mission shows how much a body can go through and still come home.

The mission was one of the more eye-catching and popular experiments in the long series of Soviet Kosmos satellites. The 22-day flight was not surpassed by humans until the Skylab 2 mission in June 1974, and it still stands as the longest spaceflight completed by dogs. Guinness World Records also lists the flight's duration as 22 days and names it the longest spaceflight by a dog.