K9Ring's Dog Blog

Interesting & Lesser Known Dog Facts

May 10, 2009 19:51

Dogs are omnivorous. They need more than just meat to flourish - e.g. bananas, apples, berries, mangoes, carrots, green beans, peas, pumpkin/squash.
Dog's internal clock is really magnificent. They know when it's time for you to arrive home, feed them, or go to bed if you're on schedule.
Brush your dog 3 times a week in the spring, and you'll have a summer free from shedding.
Dogs and cats turn in circles before lying down because in the wild this instinctive action turns long grass into a bed.
A puppy's eyes do not open until it is 10 to 15 days old. Its vision is usually not complete until it is about four weeks old.
Did you know that the Basenji, an African wolf dog, is the only dog that cannot bark?
A female carries her young for about 60 days before the puppies are born.
If never spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their puppies could produce over 66,000 dogs in 6 years!
Irish Wolfhounds rank as the largest dog, and Chihuahuas as the smallest dog. The St. Bernard is the heaviest dog and other breeds range in size between these extremes.
Ignore your new puppy's whining when you first isolate it for sleeping. If you don't you will only encourage it to whine more.
When a small dog is aggressive toward people, don't pick him up. This only reinforces the behavior since he will see it as a reward.
Did you know that a one-year-old dog is physically as mature as a 15 year-old human?
Train your dog from day one, so she will think of you as the leader of the pack. Dogs instinctively want to earn the pack leader's approval.
It is a myth that dogs are color blind. They can actually see in color, just not as vividly as humans. It is akin to our vision at dusk.
Dogs' only sweat glands are between their paw pads.
The U.S. has the highest dog population in the world. France has the 2nd highest.
Boxers are named for their playful habit of using their front paws in frolic.
Newfoundland dogs have webbed feet, making them strong and agile swimmers.
The Chinook dog breed is one of the rarest; the Guinness Book of World Records listedthem 3 times as the rarest dog breed on the planet.
The breed Lundehund has 6 toes and can close its ears so that the ear-canal is protected against dirt and moisture.
More than 1 in 3 American families own a dog.
A dog's mouth exerts 150-200 pounds of pressure per square inch with some dogs exerting up to 450 pounds per squre inch.
Greyhounds are the fastest dogs on earth, with speeds of up to 45 miles per hour.
There are 703 breeds of purebred dogs.
The world's smartest dogs are thought to be (1) the Border Collie, (2) the Poodle, and (3) the Golden Retriever.
A dog's smell is more than 100,000 times stronger than that of a human's.
Puppies sleep ninety percent of the day for their first few weeks.
The longer a dog's nose, the more effective it's internal cooling system.
Dogs are all direct descendants of wolves.
Dalmatian puppies are born completely white.
The Chihuahua was named after the state in Mexico where they were discovered.
More than 5,000,000 puppies are born in the U.S. every year.
The normal body temperature for a dog is 101.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
Dogs with little human contact in the first three months typically don't make good pets.
Humans have kept dogs as pets for over 12,000 years.
Obesity is the #1 health problem among dogs.
Many foot disorders in dogs are related to long toenails. Check your dog's nails once a month and trim when necessary, avoiding the vein.
The oldest reliable age recorded for a dog is 29 years, 5 months for a Queensland 'heeler' called Bluey in Victoria, Australia.