The Lundehune breed is able to purposefully close its ears.
Chihuahuas are born with Moleras (a soft area on the front of the skull just like human babies).
The Akita, Brussels Griffon, Chesapeake Bay Retriever, German Shorthaired Pointer, Irish Water Spaniel, Lab, Newfoundland, Portuguese Water Dog and the Spanish Water dog all have webbed feet…This is from years and years of being breed as hunting water retrieval dogs.
There is an Ugly Dog Contest that is held in California each year. For the past 7 years a Chinese Crested Hairless has won and a dog named Sam has won the most times with 3 wins in a row.
Poodles have traditionally had their tails shaved leaving a round, fluffy pom-pom on the very tip because people used to think that this helped them swim better. This style is still popular today. although many owners choose the easier to groom Puppy Cut.
Pomeranians should never be shaved. Their long, fluffy coats may never grow in the same again. They are meant to look like "balls of fur"
The Irish Wolfhound is the largest dog.
The Chihuahua is the smallest.
The Saint Bernard is the heaviest.
Chow Chows that are to be a cinnamon colour are born grey, they will have a colour change the by age of 3 weeks.
Dalmatians cannot process proteins and cannot eat beef, kidney, duck or liver without developing severe bladder stones.
Portuguese Water Dogs have toes that are webbed with a soft membrane covered with hair.
A dog can smell 1000 times better than a human.
The part of a dog’s brain that interprets odours is 4 times bigger than a humans.
They can be trained to understand up to 200 different words.
The Afghan is the most unintelligent (stupid!) kind of dog!
The smartest dogs are the Poodle, Border Collie and the Golden Retriever.
A Greyhound once jumped 30 feet horizontal while chasing a hare!
Dogs can see colours, but it is similar to us seeing a twilight time (It’s in black and white and grey).
They have excellent night time vision.
Dogs can be trained to sense when someone is about to have a seizure.
A dog can see their owner up to 1 mile away if that person is waving his or her hands!
Greyhounds have the most accurate eyesight out of all breeds.
Most can run 20 mph, Greyhounds can reach 45 mph…Compare this to a human’s average of 15 mph for short sprints or the cheetah’s 75 mph.
They have 18 separate muscles in their ears, allowing much more movement than a human.
Compared to a person who can detect sounds about 20 thousand times per second, a canine can do detect 30,000 sounds per second.
There is a dog-worshipping sect that began long ago and still exists to this day...It is called the Brotherhood of the Essenes. The Essenes maintain that there are animal planes in the celestial kingdom from which one steps to the planes of knowledge. It is their view that animals have power of speech in the kingdom that they relinquish voluntarily as they journey through the gates of the Zodiac into Earth's sphere. According to their beliefs, dogs are beings without sin, sent to earth to test humans.
During ancient Roman time, Mastiff dogs were made to wear armour and then sent to fight next to an assigned knight.
Sadly, during World War II, dogs were trained by the Russians to perform suicide missions. They were trained to lay under tanks and they did this with timed bombs attached to them.
Basset Hounds are not able to swim at all, this is due mostly in part because of their very short legs.
In the UK during the 1600’s a lot of dogs drowned in heavy rains and this is where the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs” came from.
Dogs were domesticated about 15 thousand years ago.
In the year 1957, a dog named Laika was sent into outer space , but unfortunately there was no way to bring him home and he passed away out there.
Laika had a litter of pups before being sent into space and 1 of the females produces a litter when paired with John F. Kennedy’s terrier.
The oldest breed that we know of is called the Saluki, owned by ancient Egyptians taught to be used as hunting dogs.
Rin –Tin- Tin was the first Hollywood dog star and even signed his own contracts by having his paw dipped into ink and then placed onto a paper in order to create a paw print.
Davy Crockett owned a dog who he named Sport
Carvings of dogs that resemble Greyhounds are in Egyptian tombs dating back to 2900 BC.
In 1911, a meteor struck Egypt landing squarely on a dog.
The Inuit dog breed were frequently bred with wolves to maintain the size and stamina of the breed.
A female can become pregnant with puppies from 2 different males; this happens if she ties with both of them within a couple of days. Without DNA testing there will be no way to know which pup belongs to which sire.
The bones of the growing fetuses do not contain adequate calcium to be solidified to show up on x-rays until the 6 week mark.
Dogs do feel labor pain just as humans do.
Each growing puppy fetes is contained within its own placental water sac. Normally, this is intact around the pup as it is pushed out of the body. The dam (mother) then tears it open with her teeth and licks the pup to stimulate them to breathe air. She then, generally, will eat the sac and all fluids.
The U.S. has the highest population of dog owners, France comes in second.
90% of owners report that their dog likes to watch TV with them.
It is proven that patting a dog lowers an owners blood pressure.
The bond between canine and human is stronger than with any other animal in the world.
1 out of 3 owners confess to leaving messages on their answering machines at home when their dog is there alone, done to help with Separation Anxiety issues.
The Portuguese dog often works as a helper to its fisherman owner...It does a remarkable job of guarding the fishing nets...if a fish tries to escape the dog will catch it in its jaws and swim back to its master with it.
While dog history facts tell us that the dog evolved from the wolf, dogs owned by the North American Indians tended to be smaller than average, which leads many to conclude that those dogs descended from the coyote or the prairie wolf. Also, dogs in Africa, Asia and some parts of south-eastern Europe resemble the jackals of those regions.
Of all European dogs, the German Shepherd is the most wolf-like, it was once known as the Alsatian Wolf Dog.
The Taco Bell dog with the male inserted voice is actually a female Chihuahua.
The Chow Chow is one of the most popular breeds, for FOOD!...they are considered to be a delicacy in certain areas of the Far East.