If ever the British love of pets needed proof it can be found in our smartphone photo galleries, a new poll has revealed.

Two thirds of Britons have more pictures of their furry friends than their lovers, children or holiday snaps.

And it comes as little surprise that dogs are the nation’s favourite pet to photograph, with more than half of us admitting that seeing a picture of a dog automatically improves our mood.

In contrast just over a third of us have a picture of our wife or husband and only 43 per cent of us have pictures of our children on our phone.

Commissioned by Petplan, a pet insurance company, the survey of 2,000 Britons showed there are thought to be nearly three billion pictures of pets on our mobile phones.

Of those photos, half of us set one to be our phone screen saver, while a third admit we delete other photographs to make room for more pet snaps.

And nearly half of us find that pictures of pets on social media result in more feedback than images of ourselves or meals out.

Though many of us just take pictures of our pets because we love them, with an average of eight failed pictures for every perfect one, 44 per cent of owners use photos to monitor their pet’s health.

When it comes to where takes the most pictures of pets the city of York comes out on top with an average of 53 pet pics being taken a week, followed shortly by Northampton and Portsmouth.

To celebrate the country’s love of pets, Petplan is attempting to create the largest digital photo album of animals for the Guinness World Records.

Backing the campaign, television star and cat lover Fern Britton, said: ‘We are a nation of pet lovers, so I’m not surprised our phones are full of pictures of our furry friends.

‘Pets bring so much joy to our lives, and every photo captures a special memory or moment of happiness.'