Good dogs.
Real records.

What the count means

This site counts 109,558 unique dogs with active licenses in recognized county jurisdictions at the inferred July 14, 2026 snapshot. It is not a census of every dog or a complete picture of licensing across the county.

The snapshot is the latest observed license update date, not a confirmed extraction timestamp. The data came from a request for public data.

Where the gaps are

County scope includes 18 incorporated cities and unincorporated territory. Active records appear in 14 cities. Chula Vista, Coronado, Lemon Grove, National City, and unincorporated territory have no active records in this data. A gap does not mean no dogs live there.

The six areas are editorial city groupings, not official regional boundaries. ZIPs use the reported postal code. City counts use source jurisdiction names. Counts are not dogs per person, household, or square mile.

How a license becomes a count

We keep records with active owner, pet, and license statuses and a license period covering the snapshot. We map source jurisdictions into county scope, then select the latest qualifying license for each pet. Placeholder dog names are excluded. Reported breed text is mapped into a reviewed set of breeds, named hybrids, breed-specific mixes, and broad mixed or unknown groups. Ambiguous text stays unclassified.

Age is calculated at the snapshot from the recorded date of birth. Impossible dates are excluded. Birth-year charts describe the dogs in this snapshot. They do not show how names or breeds rose and fell in past licensing years. Color combinations, sex, and neuter status use the values in the public records.

Aggregate, not individual

Grouped counts are shown down to one dog. No license IDs, pet IDs, owner information, addresses, or individual dog records are published. Illustrations are decorative, not portraits of dogs in the records.

With thanks

San Diego, Unleashed was inspired by the brilliant work of The Dogs of SF, which showed me the way. Thank you.

Built by Wraxle

Wraxle LLC built this site. Behind Wraxle is Rasty Turek, a serial entrepreneur, occasional investor, and creator of Vaultaire, pdfpix, HASP, Place In Time, and other products.