55 Facts About Dogs

1. A dog’s heart beats between 70 and 120 times a minute, compared with the human heart which beats 70 to 80 times a minute.

2. An African wolf dog called The basenji is the only dog that cannot bark.

3. Dalmatians are white when they are born and develop their spots as they age.

4. Dogs can detect cancer in humans.

5. Dogs sweat through the pads in their feet.

6. In 1957, a Russian dog called Laika became the first living being in space via an earth satellite.

7. John F. Kennedy’s dog Charlie fathered four puppies with Laika’s daughter.

8. There are over 700 breeds of purebred dogs.

9. Dogs have twice as many muscles as humans to move their ears.

10. All dogs are direct descendants of wolves.

11. Nose prints are used to identify dogs, just as fingerprints are used to identify humans.

12. Like humans, dogs are either right handed or left handed.

13. Humans have kept dogs for pets for over 12,000 years.

14. It was in 17th century England that the phrase “It’s raining cats and dogs” originated, as it was believed that many cats and dogs drowned in heavy periods of rain.

15. The longest living dog was an Australian Cattle Dog called Bluey, who lived to be 29.

16. Chocolate contains a substance called Theobromine (similar to caffeine) which can kill or dogs or at least make them violently illl.

17. A dog’s pregnancy lasts 60 days.

18. The most intelligent breed of dog is the Border Collie.

19. Dogs are the first animals domesticated by people.

20. Only dogs and humans have prostates.

21. A dog’s smell is over a 100,000 times more sensitive than that of a human.

22. The Irish Wolfhound is the largest dog.

23. Dogs have 42 permanent teeth.

24. George Washington had 36 Foxhounds, one named Sweetlips.

25. Dogs do not have appendix.

26. A dog’s normal body temperature is 100.5 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

27. The greyhound is the fastest  breed of dog and can reach a speed of 45 miles per hour.

28. Each year more money is spent on dog food than baby food.

29. Bear, An eleven year old Golden Retriever was the first search and rescue dog on the scene of the World Trade Center Disaster on September 11th 2001. He began recovery efforts immediately, working eighteen hour days in the beginning.

30. The Great Dane breed of dog originates from Germany.

31. The Great Dane is the tallest dog.

32. Two dogs survived the sinking of The Titanic. A Pomeranian belonging to Miss Margaret Hayes and a Peckinese belonging to Henry Sleeper Harper.

33. Dogs have three eyelids. They have an upper and lower eyelid and a third one inside of the other two. It helps protect the eye from dirt and dust and is called the “haw”.

34. The least intelligent breed is the Afghan Hound.

35. All dogs are identical in anatomy.

36. Dogs have 321 bones.

37. The dumbest dog is believed to be an Afghan Hound.

38. Louis Doberman created the Doberman breed around 1890. The dog was used as a form of protection during his job as a tax collector in Apolda, Germany.

39. At the end of the Beatles song “A Day in the Life”, an ultrasonic whistle, audible only to dogs, was recorded by Paul McCartney for the enjoyment of his Shetland Sheepdog.

40. Dogs are mentioned in the Bible fourteen times.

41. The Chow Chow dog has a black tongue.

42. The only dog to appear in a Shakespearean play was Crab in “The Two Gentlemen Of Verona”.

43. Newfoundlands have webbed feet, making them great swimmers and divers.

44. Bassets can’t swim. Their legs are too short to keep their heavy, long bodies afloat.

45. The cartoon character dog Snoopy is a Beagle.

46. Dogs are natural pack animals.

47. The heaviest breed of dog is the St.Bernard.

48. Rin Tin Tin was the first Hollywood dog star.

49. Some dogs can detect cancer by smelling a person’s breath.

50. Different smells in a dog’s urine can tell other dogs whether the dog leaving the message is female or male, old or young, sick or healthy, happy or angry.

51. Zorba, an English Mastiff, is the biggest dog ever recorded. He weighed 343 pounds and measured 8’3″ from his nose to his tail.

52. Countess Karlotta Libenstein of Germany left approximately $106 million to her Alsatian Gunther III, when she died in 1992.

53. Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Greek mythology, guarded the gates to the underworld.

54. The Chihuahua is the smallest dog.

55. The term “Dog Days” dates back to Roman times, when it was believed that Sirius, the Dog Star, added it’s heat to that of the sun from July 3 to August 11 and created exceptionally high temperatures. The Romans called the period ” dies caniculares” or “Days of the Dog”.