Fun Dog Facts!



• Puppies sleep ninety percent of the day for their first few weeks.
• Did you know the average dog has 42 permanent teeth in their mouth?
• It is a myth that dogs are color blind. Dog facts: dogs can actually see in color but not as vividly as humans. It is similar to our vision at dusk. They do have better low-light vision than humans because of a special light-reflecting layer behind their retinas.
• A German Shepherd guide dog led her blind companion the entire 2100 mile Applachian Trail.
• Dogs’ only sweat glands are between their paw pads.
• Like human babies, Chihuahuas are born with a soft spot in their skull which closes up with age.
• President Lyndon Johnson had two Beagles named Him and Her.
• The U.S. has the highest dog population in the world.
• 87% of dog owners say their dog curls up beside them or at their feet while they watch TV.
• The top grossing film of all time is "Marley and Me" (2008) $142,992,475 featuring a dog.
• Dogs can be trained to detect epileptic seizures.
• 15 people die in the U.S. every year from dog bites.
• Newfoundlands are excellent swimmers due to their webbed feet; Basset Hounds cannot swim at all.
• Greyhounds are the fastest dogs on earth, with speeds of up to 45 miles per hour.
• The Bible mentions dogs 14 times.
• Dalmation puppies are born completely white.
• In Roman times, Mastiffs donned light armor and were sent after mounted knights.
• An estimated 1,000,000 dogs in the U.S. have been named as the primary beneficiaries in their owner’s will.
• An American Animal Hospital Association poll found that 33% of dog owners admit to talking to their dogs on the phone and leaving answering machine messages for them while they are away.
• A dog’s nose print is as unique as a human’s finger print and can be used to accurately identify them.
• 58% include their pets in family and holiday portraits.
• Humans have kept dogs as pets for over 12,000 years.
• The largest breed of dog is the Irish Wolfhound.
• The smallest breed of dog is the Chihuahua.
• After birth, puppies’ eyes do not fully open until they’re about 12 days old and their vision is not fully developed until after the first month.
• Dogs do not have an appendix.
• There are over 700 breeds of purebred dogs.
• The smartest breeds of dogs are believed to be the Golden Retriever, Border Collie, and Poodle.
• A dog’s smell is more than 100,000 times stronger than that of a humans.
• Dogs judge objects first by their movement, then by their brightness, and lastly by their shape.
• Chocolate can kill dogs or at the very least make them violently ill.
• A one year old dog is as mature, physically, as a 15 year old human.
• George Washington had thirty six dogs – all foxhounds.
• All dogs are identical in anatomy – 321 bones and 42 permanent teeth.
• Dogs have twice as many muscles to move their ears as people.
• Dogs are all direct descendants of wolves.
• Three dogs survived the sinking of the Titanic – a Newfoundland, a Pomeranian, and a Pekingese.
• Humans can detect sounds at 20,000 times per second, while dogs can sense frequencies of 30,000 times per second.
• Bloodhounds are prized for their ability to single out and identify a number of scents simultaneously.
• A dog's average lifespan is 15 years.
• More than 5,000,000 puppies are born in the U.S. every year.
• More than one in three American families own a dog.
• Average body temperature for a dog is 101.2 degrees.
• Dogs are natural pack animals and they are naturally submissive to any dog with higher pack status – human or canine.
• According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the smallest dog on record was a Yorkshire Terrier in Great Britain who, at the age of 2, weighed just 4 ounces.
• The longest lived dog, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was an Australian Cattle Dog, named Bluey, who lived to be 29.
• Dogs don’t like rain because the sound is amplified and hurts their very sensitive ears.
• The ten most popular dogs (AKC, 2007) are in order: Labrador Retriever, Yorkshire Terrier, German Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Beagle, Boxer, Dachshund, Poodle, Shih Tzu, and Bulldog.
• Spaying/neutering your dog before the age of 6 months can help prevent cancer in your dog.
• Puppies acquire a full mouth of permanent teeth between four and seven months old.
• Small dogs live the longest. Toy breeds live up to 16 years or more. Larger dogs average is 7 - 12 years. Veterinary medicine have extended this estimate by about three years. However, some breeds, such as Tibetan terrier live as long as twenty years.
• Most pet owners (94 percent) say their pet makes them smile more than once a day.
• It has been established that people who own pets live longer, have less stress, and have fewer heart attacks.
• A dog’s whiskers are touch-sensitive hairs called vibrissae. They are found on the muzzle, above the eyes and below the jaws, and can actually sense tiny changes in airflow.

Posted by Jessica R.