And the winner is...

For the 18th straight year, the Labrador retriever has been named the most popular dog.

Hard to argue with that. They come in three colors, blond, black and chocolate (mmm, chocolate). They're friendly, trustworthy, stout hearted and enjoy a good game of fetch. In other words, all the things my dog isn't.

I have a theory that if everybody had a lab, all the world's problems would go away.

The news comes courtesey of the American Kennel Club.

The club said Wednesday that more than twice as many Labs were registered in the U.S. in 2008 as Yorkshire terriers -- the No. 2 dog on the list -- which means the breed will probably retain its Most Popular Dog title for the indefinite future. The rest of the top 10 canines are German shepherd, golden retriever, beagle, boxer, dachshund, bulldog, poodle and shih tzu.

The story, from the Associated Press, manages to mention the ongoing crisis over a dog for the White House. Frankly, I thought this was a bigger decision than the one to close Gitmo, but then, nobody asked me.

p.s. Read the following post from Donna if you'd like one of your own Labs. A couple of them are looking for homes!