More 90+ Facts about Dogs

1. There are almost 5 million dog bites per year; children are the main victims. Dog bites cause losses of over $1 billion a year.
   
2. A person should never kick a dog facing him or her. Some dogs can bite 10 times before a human can respond.
   
3. The most intelligent dogs are reportedly the Border Collie and the Poodle, while the least intelligent dogs are the Afghan Hound and the Basenji.
   
4. One kind of Pekingese is referred to as a "sleeve" because it was bred to fit into a Chinese empress' sleeves, which was how it was often carried around.
   
5. A dog's heart beats between 70 and 120 times a minute, compared with a human heart which beats 70 to 80 times a minute.
   
6. A dog's normal body temperature is 100.5 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
   
7. A female carries her young about 60 days before the puppies are born.
   
8. 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.
   
9. The longest lived dog, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was an Australian Cattle Dog, named Bluey, who lived to be 29.
   
10. An adult dog has 42 teeth.
    
11. 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.
    
12. If never spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their puppies could produce over 66,000 dogs in 6 years!
    
13. The only sweat glands a dog has are between the paw pads.
    
14. In 1957, Laika became the first living being in space via an earth satellite
    
15. The world's smartest dogs are thought to be (1) the border collie, (2) the poodle, and (3) the golden retriever.
    
16. Chocolate contains a substance known as theobromine (similar to caffeine) which can kill dogs or at the very least make them violently ill.
    
17. Dogs' sense of hearing is more than ten times more acute than a human's
    
18. More than 1 in 3 American families own a dog.
    
19. Dogs don't like rain because the sound is amplified and hurts their very sensitive ears.
    
20. The ten most popular dogs (AKC, 2007) are in order:
    
21. Labrador Retriever, Yorkshire Terrier, German Shepherd,
    
22. Golden Retriever, Beagle, Boxer, Dachshund, Poodle,
    
23. Shih Tzu, and Bulldog.
    
24. Dogs were the first animals domesticated by people.
    
25. A greyhound can run as fast as 45 miles an hour.
    
26. Spaying/neutering your dog before the age of 6 months can help prevent cancer in your dog.
    
27. Puppies acquire a full mouth of permanent teeth between four and seven months old.
    
28. 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.
    
29. Eighty percent of dog owners buy their dog a present for holidays and birthdays. More than half of them sign letters and cards from themselves and their pets.
    
30. The dog name "Fido" is from Latin and means "fidelity."
    
31. The U.S. has the highest dog population in the world.
    
32. Most pet owners (94 percent) say their pet makes them smile more than once a day.
    
33. Dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible.
    
34. It has been established that people who own pets live longer, have less stress, and have fewer heart attacks.
    
35. All dogs can be traced back 40 million years ago to a weasel-like animal called the Miacis which dwelled in trees and dens. The Miacis later evolved into the Tomarctus,a direct forbearer of the genus Canis, which includes the wolf and jackal as well as the dog.
    
36. Seventy percent of people sign their pet's name on greeting cards and 58 percent include their pets infamily and holiday portraits, according to a survey done by the American Animal Hospital Association.
    
37. 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.
    
38. The origin of amputating a dog's tail may go back to the Roman writer Lucius Columella's (A.D. 4-70) assertion that tail docking prevented rabies.
    
39. Dogs can smell about 1,000 times better than humans. While humans have 5 million smell-detecting cells, dogs have more than 220 million. The part of the brain that interprets smell is also four times larger in dogs than in humans.
    
40. A dog by the name of Laika was launched into space aboard the Russian spacecraft Sputnik 2 in 1957.
    
41. The Dalmatian dog is named for the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, where it is believed to have been originally bred.
    
42. Boxers were named after their habit of playing. At the beginning of play with another dog, a Boxer will stand on his hind legs and 'box' at his opponent.
    
43. The name of the Taco Bell dog is Gidget.
    
44. The real name of Toto the dog in "The Wizard Of Oz" was Terry.
    
45. Davy Crockett had a dog named Sport.
    
46. The first guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired were trained in Germany to provide assistance for those blinded in the war. German Shepherds were used for their protective and strong sense of loyalty to their owner.
    
47. In England, the most commonly used guide dog for the blind is the Yellow Labrador Retriever.
    
48. Humans can detect sounds at 20,000 times per second, while dogs can sense frequencies of 30,000 times per second.
49. Dogs sweat through the pads of their feet.
    
50. Philip Gilbert Hamerton, English art writer and landscape painter, noted, "If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering, outspoken, honest fellow — but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much."
    
51. The dog name "Fido" is from Latin and means "fidelity."
    
52. An city dog lives on average three years longer than an country dog.
    
53. A dog's nose has over 200 scent receiving cells.
    
54. The greyhound breed was developed in Egypt about 5,000 years ago.
    
55. Marie Antoinette's dog was a spaniel named Thisbe.
    
56. There is a doggy disco held in Italy every year where owners can dance with their dogs.
    
57. 21% of dogs and 7% of cats snore.
    
58. Greyhounds have the best eyesight of any breed of dog. Today the dog is widely used in racing.
    
59. Greyhounds are the fastest dogs on earth, with speeds of up to 45 miles per hour.
    
60. The ingredient Theobromine in chocolate can be lethal to dogs.
    
61. A dog was killed by a meteor at Nakhla, Egypt, in 1911.
    
62. Newfoundland's are such great swimmers because of their webbed feet. Basset Hounds cannot swim at all.
    
63. Like human babies, Chihuahuas are born with a soft spot in their skull which closes up with age.
    
64. The largest breed of dog is the Irish Wolfhound.
    
65. The world's smallest dog breed is the Chihuahua. The Chihuahua was named after the state in Mexico where they were discovered.
    
66. The St. Bernard is the heaviest dog breed.
    
67. The oldest known breed is likely the Saluki – originally trained by Egyptians to help track game.
    
68. Up until the late 1800's, Collies were known as Scottish Sheepdogs.
    
69. There are over 700 breeds of purebred dogs.
    
70. All dogs are the descendant of the wolf that lived in eastern Asia about 15,000 years ago.
    
71. Dogs are natural pack animals and they are naturally submissive to any dog with a higher pack status – human or canine.
    
72. President Lyndon Johnson had two Beagles named Him and Her.
    
73. George Washington had thirty six dogs – all foxhounds.
    
74. The bible mentions dogs 14 times.
    
75. 33 percent of dog owners admit that they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave them messages on an answering machine.
    
76. If you love dogs, but dislike the sound of barking, a possible solution is a Basenji dog. This dog is a breed of dog that does not bark, but instead makes a yodel-like sound. Read More
    
77. Dogs with little human contact in their first three months typically don't make good pets.
    
78. A frightened dog will put its tail between his legs because it cuts off the sent glands in its anal region which a very vulnerable part of the anatomy. Since the anal glands carry personal scents that identify the individual dogs, the tail between the legs action is the dog's equivalent of insecure humans hiding their faces.
    
79. Dogs can be trained to detect epileptic seizures.
    
80. 15 people die in the U.S. every year from dog bites.
    
81. In 2002 alone, more people in the U.S. were killed by dogs than by sharks in the past 100 years.
    
82. Bingo is the name of the dog on the side of the Cracker Jack box.
    
83. In Roman times, Mastiffs donned light armor and were sent after mounted knights.
    
84. A dog's nose print is as unique as a human's finger print and can be used to accurately identify them.
    
85. Soulmates: More than half of us say we share characteristics with our dogs!
    
86. During the Vietnam war 4500 working dogs were sent to aid the troops.
    
87. The world's smartest dogs are thought to be the Border Collie, the Poodle, and the Golden Retriever.
    
88. A dog's smell is more than 100,000 times stronger than that of a humans.
    
89. Rin Tin Tin was the first Hollywood dog star… and he really signed his movie contracts, all 22 of them with a paw print!
    
90. A one year old dog is as mature, physically, as a 15 year old human.
    
91. U.S. Customs dogs "Rocky" and "Barco" were so good at patrolling the border that Mexican drug lords put a $300,000 bounty on their heads.
    
92. Three dogs survived the sinking of the Titanic – a Newfoundland, a Pomeranian, and a Pekingese.
    
93. The Antpitta avis canis Ridgley is a bird species that barks like a dog