New York vs. Seattle

Let’s look at which coast is THE ABSOLUTE BEST… in terms of dogs. Like with the New York boroughs, I took information on dog breed characteristics and combined it with dog registration data from New York and Seattle. Let’s dive into the results!

When it comes to trainability, it isn’t even close. Seattle has more trainable dogs overall. As mentioned in the video, the top breeds of dogs in each city can shed some light on why the scores are different.

Looking at boldness, the second column, the difference is so small–.02– that it’s practically the same. Calmness and sociability show a clear difference, though. Seattle dogs are both calmer and more sociable than New York dogs.

Let’s look at the dogs in New York to see where these ratings came from

New York

In New York, the top four breeds are smaller dogs which the academic study labels as low trainability. Now there is some disagreement in ratings—another academic study rated these dogs differently. But even when I used the other study’s data, I got the same results.

Let’s look at the top breeds for Seattle.

Seattle

We see a very different picture. Labs and Golden Retrievers, with more than 20% of all dogs, are rated as moderately trainable in our data. That alone will have a significant effect on the overall score.

For a more detailed and technical discussion of the study, click here.

Merch

Enjoy this fun merchandise about the study results! (More in the shop.) Purchases will support animal rescue, as well.