Fun Facts About Dogs

Fun Facts About Dogs: all 30, explained

1. A dog’s nose has hundreds of millions of scent receptors, compared with a few million in ours.

   Dogs have far more olfactory receptors than humans and a much larger part of the brain for processing smells. That is why they can be trained to find people, drugs, explosives and even some diseases by scent.

   Source: Dog anatomy (Wikipedia) · Fact card

2. Dogs sweat mostly through their paw pads.

   Dogs have very few sweat glands in their skin. They cool down mainly by panting, which evaporates water from the tongue and airways, with a little sweating through the pads of their feet.

   Source: Dog anatomy (Wikipedia) · Fact card

3. Greyhounds can run at about 70 km/h (around 45 mph).

   Greyhounds are the fastest dog breed. Their long legs, deep chest, flexible spine and light frame let them reach top speed within a few strides, though they are built for sprinting rather than long distances.

   Source: Greyhound (Wikipedia) · Fact card

4. The basenji is a dog that doesn’t bark. It yodels.

   The basenji, an African hunting breed, has an unusually shaped larynx. Instead of a typical bark it makes a sound often described as a yodel, which has earned it the nickname "barkless dog".

   Source: Basenji (Wikipedia) · Fact card

5. Dogs were the first animals to be domesticated, more than 15,000 years ago.

   Dogs descend from an ancient population of wolves and were domesticated by hunter-gatherers well before farming began. They were tamed long before any crop or other animal.

   Source: Domestication of the dog (Wikipedia) · Fact card

6. Dogs aren’t color-blind. They see mostly in blues and yellows.

   Humans have three types of color-sensing cone cells; dogs have two. That gives them dichromatic vision similar to red-green color blindness in people, so red and green look alike to them but blue and yellow stand out.

   Source: Dog anatomy (Wikipedia) · Fact card

7. Dalmatian puppies are born completely white.

   Dalmatian puppies are born with plain white coats. Their famous spots start to appear after a couple of weeks and keep developing for months.

   Source: Dalmatian dog (Wikipedia) · Fact card

8. The first animal to orbit Earth was a dog called Laika.

   Laika, a stray from the streets of Moscow, was launched aboard the Soviet Sputnik 2 in November 1957. She did not survive the flight, but her mission showed that a living creature could survive launch and weightlessness, paving the way for human spaceflight.

   Source: Laika (Wikipedia) · Fact card

9. Every dog’s nose print is unique, like a fingerprint.

   The pattern of ridges and bumps on a dog’s nose leather is different for each dog, and some registries have used nose prints to identify dogs.

   Source: Dog anatomy (Wikipedia) · Fact card

10. Dogs can hear much higher sounds than people.

    Dogs hear frequencies up to around 45,000 hertz, more than twice the upper limit for young humans. That is why a dog whistle seems silent to us.

    Source: Dog anatomy (Wikipedia) · Fact card

11. Puppies are born blind and deaf.

    Newborn puppies have their eyes and ear canals sealed shut. Their eyes open at around two weeks old and they start to hear soon after.

    Source: Puppy (Wikipedia) · Fact card

12. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

    Chocolate contains theobromine, which dogs break down far more slowly than people. Dark and baking chocolate contain the most, so small amounts can make a dog seriously ill.

    Source: Theobromine poisoning (Wikipedia) · Fact card

13. There are hundreds of recognized dog breeds.

    The World Canine Organization (FCI) recognizes more than 350 breeds, and national kennel clubs each keep their own lists.

    Source: Dog breed (Wikipedia) · Fact card

14. The Chihuahua is often called the smallest dog breed.

    Many adult Chihuahuas weigh under 3 kilograms. The breed is named after the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

    Source: Chihuahua (dog breed) (Wikipedia) · Fact card

15. Great Danes are among the tallest dogs in the world.

    Adult males often stand around 80 centimeters at the shoulder, and several Great Danes have held the record for the world’s tallest dog.

    Source: Great Dane (Wikipedia) · Fact card

16. A dog’s wet nose helps it smell.

    A thin layer of mucus on the nose traps scent particles, and dogs lick their noses to taste the smells they have picked up.

    Source: Dog anatomy (Wikipedia) · Fact card

17. Dogs have whiskers that sense air movement.

    Whiskers on the muzzle, above the eyes and under the chin are sensitive touch hairs that help dogs judge nearby objects.

    Source: Whiskers (Wikipedia) · Fact card

18. Puppies have 28 baby teeth and adult dogs have 42.

    Puppies lose their baby teeth between about three and seven months old as the adult teeth come through.

    Source: Dog anatomy (Wikipedia) · Fact card

19. A dog’s normal body temperature is higher than ours.

    Healthy dogs usually run at around 38 to 39°C, a degree or two warmer than people.

    Source: Dog anatomy (Wikipedia) · Fact card

20. Which way a dog wags its tail may mean something.

    Researchers found dogs tend to wag more to the right when they see something they like, such as their owner, and more to the left when they see something unsettling.

    Source: Tail wagging by dogs (Wikipedia) · Fact card

21. Bloodhounds are such good trackers that their trails have been used as evidence in court.

    Bloodhounds can follow a scent trail days old over long distances, and US courts have accepted their tracking in some cases.

    Source: Bloodhound (Wikipedia) · Fact card

22. A border collie named Chaser learned the names of more than 1,000 toys.

    Chaser, studied by psychologist John Pilley, could fetch any of over 1,000 named objects on command.

    Source: Chaser (dog) (Wikipedia) · Fact card

23. Sled dogs carried medicine across Alaska in 1925 to stop a diphtheria outbreak.

    Relay teams of sled dogs covered about 1,085 kilometers to bring antitoxin to Nome. Balto, who led the final stretch, has a statue in New York’s Central Park.

    Source: 1925 serum run to Nome (Wikipedia) · Fact card

24. A dog in Japan waited for his owner at a train station for nearly 10 years.

    Hachikō waited at Shibuya Station every day after his owner died in 1925. A statue of him stands outside the station today.

    Source: Hachikō (Wikipedia) · Fact card

25. Dogs dream.

    Dogs have sleep cycles with REM sleep like ours, and twitching paws or soft barks during sleep are thought to be signs of dreaming.

    Source: Dog (Wikipedia) · Fact card

26. Some dogs hunt by sight, others by smell.

    Sighthounds such as greyhounds and salukis chase what they see, while scent hounds such as beagles and bloodhounds follow their noses.

    Source: Sighthound (Wikipedia) · Fact card

27. Newfoundland dogs have webbed feet and are famous water rescuers.

    Their webbed paws, water-resistant coat and strength made them working dogs for fishermen, and they are still trained for water rescue.

    Source: Newfoundland dog (Wikipedia) · Fact card

28. Dogs pant to cool down.

    Panting moves air over the moist tongue and airways, and the evaporating water carries heat away from the body.

    Source: Panting (Wikipedia) · Fact card

29. Small dog breeds usually live longer than big ones.

    Many small breeds live 12 to 16 years, while giant breeds often live 8 to 10, the opposite of the pattern across most animal species.

    Source: Dog (Wikipedia) · Fact card

30. Dogs can read human facial expressions.

    Studies show dogs can tell happy faces from angry ones and look at human faces differently from other animals.

    Source: Human-canine bond (Wikipedia) · Fact card