185 Amazing Facts About Dogs You Probably Didn't Know | Legacy Facts

# The mitochondrial DNA of each Dog is 99.9 percent the same as that of a gray wolf.

# Dogs have 13 types of blood, horses have eight, cows have nine while humans have just four.

# The first sense that the dog develops is touch. The entire body, including the paws, is covered with nerve endings that are sensitive to touch.

# Dogs are as intelligent as a 2-year-old baby. They can understand and understand more than 150 words.

# Dogs bark more than wolves since dogs have evolved into the equivalent of wolf puppies overgrown.

# The nose of a dog is the equivalent of a human fingerprint: they have a unique pattern.

# Dogs have a wet nose to collect more of the tiny droplets of smelling chemicals in the air.

# A sense of smell of a dog is 10,000 times stronger than humans beings.

# Dogs have 1,700 taste buds on their tongue while there are 9,000 taste buds on a humans tongue.

# Only 5 percent of dogs experience dental decay, compared to 90 percent of kids.

# Dogs have 3 eyelids. The third lid, or "haw," is called a nictitating membrane, which keeps the eye lubricated and protected.

# Cats have a vocal repertoire of +100 sounds while dogs have just 10.

# A dog can detect a sound source within 1/600 of a second and can hear sounds 4 times as far away as a human can.

# When fully grown, dogs will have a total of 42 teeth.

# The dogs and cats sweat only from their nose and footpads.

# Dogs sneeze to communicate that they are not being aggressive to other dogs.

# In dogs, small quantities of raisins and grapes can cause renal failure. Chocolate, cooked onions, macadamia nuts, or anything that contains caffeine can also be harmful.

# Apple and pear seeds contain arsenic that is potentially lethal to dogs.

# If dogs are happy, they wag their tails to the right, and to the left when they are frightened.

# Dr. Roger Mugford invented the "wagometer" in 2003, a device that claims to interpret the exact mood of a dog by measuring its tail wag.

# Dogs have a branch of nerves in their ears, and it releases endorphins when you rub them, making them extremely relaxed with a kind of natural high.

# The ear of a dog can be moved by eighteen muscles or more.

# Dogs may look ashamed but experts say that they cannot feel guilty, just submission.

# Many dogs can be seen chasing their own tails, but that's not just for fun. Sometimes, if a dog suffers from fleas or anxiety, it will chase its tail.

# Dogs and cats tend to be either right-pawed or left-pawed.

# Dogs have "Eureka moments" and are able to enjoy the experience of solving a problem to get a reward.

# Various smells in the urine of a dog can tell other dogs whether the dog that leaves the message is female or male, old or young, sick or healthy, happy or angry.

# Dogs poop in alignment with the magnetic field of Earth.

# The shoulder blades of a dog are unattached to the rest of the skeleton in order to offer greater flexibility to run.

# Dogs in a pack are more likely to chase and hunt on their own than just a single dog. Two dogs are enough to form a pack.

# Lab tests have shown that cats do not love you the way dogs do. Tests have shown that a dog releases Oxytocin (the "love hormone") at much higher levels in their brains than cats.

# Unspayed female dogs go to heat only twice a year.

# The mother sometimes rejects puppies because they are born by a cesarean and cleaned up before they are given back to her.

# A research in 2008 found that an average of 1.2 million puppies are born every day. However, these are not all lovingly homed, since many of them die and others are left abandoned.

# Newborn puppies are either born blind or deaf. After about two weeks most puppies open their eyes and respond to noise.

# When puppies are born, they sleep about 90 percent of the time. This will gradually decrease after a few weeks, however, and fully-grown dogs would only require 10 hours of sleep a day.

# Once a dog reaches 10 years of age, its chance of death from cancer is 50 percent.

# Dogs living in the city tend to live longer than those who spend their lives in the countryside. Country dogs will die on average three years earlier than those in the cities.

# A "dog year" isn't equivalent to seven human years. The age of the Dog at different rates depends on their size.

# A dog's face shape suggests how long it is going to live. Generally, dogs with sharp, pointed faces that look more like wolves live longer. Dogs with very flat faces, like bulldogs, have often shorter lifespans.

# Dogs that are larger in size age faster and die younger.

# Toy dogs (small breeds of dogs) typically live longer than the larger breeds. It is estimated that the smallest dogs would live up to the age of 16 whereas the larger dogs would have a lifespan of 7 to 12 years.

# Pugs can only run at a speed of 3 to 5 mph, but that does not stop them from being a popular breed with the celebrities. In their time Jessica Alba, Hugh Laurie, and Queen Victoria all owned a pug.

# A group of pugs is called a "grumble."

# The only creatures who tend to instinctively understand pointing are the dogs and elephants.

# In contrast, the Basenji is the world's only dog that does not bark at all.

# The Dalmatians are born white. In fact, their first spots appear within 3 to 4 weeks after birth.

# Pit Bulls were once referred to as "nanny dogs" due to how kind and protective they were of children.

# The Newfoundland dog is from Labrador and the Labrador dog is from Newfoundland.

# The German Shepherds are the dogs that are often seen to work with the police. This is because of their high levels of intelligence, desire to explore their surroundings, courage, agility, and loyalty.

# Bloodhound dogs have a strong sense of smell, which has been used to track criminals since the Middle Ages.

# One of the dog breeds that resembles a wolf is the Siberian Husky. They're very friendly with families and strangers. They need plenty of exercises, however, which can be difficult to take care of.

# Trained dogs with 98 percent accuracy can sniff out prostate cancer.

# The Scottish Terrier is a difficult dog to train but will highly reward its owners once trained. 'Scotties' are great with kids and are excellent watchdogs despite their small size.

# If a guide dog judges that command is unsafe, it will refuse the command. This is called "intelligent disobedience."

# Since 1994, Husky dogs are banned from Antarctica.

# Canines are exceptionally smart creatures and they have some special abilities that are lacking in humans. For instance, because of a membrane that is in their eyes, they can see in the dark.

# As of 2010 the tallest known dog was a Great Dane measuring 1,092 m (43 inches) tall.

# A chihuahua which measured 15.2 cm (6 inches) is the smallest living dog in terms of length.

# A matchbox-sized Yorkshire Terrier was the smallest dog on record. At the shoulder, it was 2.5 inches tall, 3.5 inches from the tip of the tail to the nose, and weighs only 4 ounces.

# An average dog can run at a speed of around 19 mph while the Greyhounds are the world's fastest dogs that can run at speeds of 45 mph.

# The world's most expensive dog reportedly cost $1.5 million for its owner. The expensive pooch was a Tibetan mastiff sold in China.

# An Australian cattle dog named Bluey who lived for 29 years and 5 months was the oldest dog on record. That is over 160 years in human years.

# In 2009, the first cloned dogs, six Canadian Labradors, began serving as sniffers for customs service to South Korea.

# The Golden Retriever is reportedly the best dog to attract a date. Pit Bull is the worst.

# Laika, the first dog in space, did not die in peace, as the Soviets had initially reported. She died due to an overheated cabin.

# 5,000 Mastiffs owned by Kublai Khan were the most dogs ever owned by a single human.

# Tillie, the dog who painted, had under her collar more than 17 solo exhibits including shows in Milan, Amsterdam, and Brussels.

# The Border Collie and the Poodle are reportedly the smartest dogs, while the Afghan Hound and the Basenji are the least intelligent dogs.

# The Poodle is one of the cleanest breeds of dogs which makes them a great choice for people who suffer from dog allergies. They do not molt much at all, so they also rarely smell.

# The Akita is among the most challenging dogs to own. It is even been characterized by some insurance companies as the #1 "bad dog," and may even raise homeowner insurance costs for an Akita owner.

# The Cesky Terrier is the world's rarest dog breed. There are about 350 of them worldwide.

# The only two dog breeds with black tongues are the Chow Chow and the Shar-Pei. All other breeds of dogs, when healthy, will have pink tongues.

# The nosiest dogs are the Beagle and Collie, while the quietest are the Akbash Dog and the Basenji.

# In New Zealand, three dogs have been taught to drive a modified car around a race track in an effort to show shelter dogs intelligence.

# A "coydog" is a coyote crossed with a dog.

# In 1940, a Soviet scientist brought back the head of a dead dog to "life" (it responded to external stimuli) and then brought back to life a clinically dead dog (drained of blood for 10 minutes). He got the Lenin Prize.

# Scientists kept dogs awake for several days in 1913, extracted spinal fluid, and injected this into other dogs, which put them to sleep immediately.

# In Croatia, scientists found that lamposts were collapsing as the metal was being rotted by a chemical in the urine of male dogs.

# Dogs are mentioned 37 times in the Bible. Mostly they were depicted as unclean and in some cases, they meant those who did not believe in God.

# Wolves became tamer companions approximately 27,000 years ago and evolved into dogs.

# The Gran Chaco ancient Mbaya Indians in South America believed that humans originally lived underground until they were dug up by dogs.

# Genetic and archaeological evidence indicates that there were 2 different populations of dogs in the world during the Palaeolithic period, one in the East and one in the West.

# Ancient Egyptians revered their dogs. The owners shaved off their eyebrows when a pet dog is dead, smeared mud in their hair, and mourned for days loudly.

# There are recorded names of 77 ancient Egyptian dogs. The names, like Blackie, Ebony, Good Herdsman, Reliable, and Brave One, refer to color and character.

# Thirty thousand years ago human beings and dogs first became best friends.

# In Asia, the oldest known dog bones were discovered, that date back to 10,000 B.C. Around 9000 B.C. appeared the first known dog breed, which was probably a type of Greyhound dog used for hunting.

# In Spain, the oldest European dog images are found in cave paintings that date back 12,000 years ago.

# The word "summer dog days" was coined by ancient Greeks and Romans to describe the hottest summer days that coincided with the rising of the Dog Star, Sirius.

# During the Middle Ages, Great Danes, and Mastiffs were sometimes suited with armor and spiked collars to enter a battle or to defend supply caravans.

# The ancient religion of Zoroastrianism includes a section devoted to the care and breeding of dogs in its religious text titled the Zend Avesta.

# Dog trainers were held highly esteemed in ancient China. There was also a lot of dog domestication in China, especially dwarfing and miniaturization.

# It is said that Alexander the Great, in memory of his dog, built and named a city Peritas.

# In ancient Greece, spiked dog collars were invented and initially designed to protect the throat of the dog from wolf attacks.

# If your dog's feet smell like corn chips. The word "Frito Feet" was coined to describe the smell.

# Dogs are more likely to steal food in the dark because they know that in low light, humans can not see clearly.

# Research has shown that dogs actually like their owners' silly, high-pitched voice to talk to them.

# Dogs can learn spoken commands much easier if they are given in conjunction with hand signals or gestures.

# Dogs can tell the difference between happy and angry human faces.

# Dogs can tell when people are untrustworthy and if they prove unreliable they will stop listening to a person.

# Human and Dog brains have evolved to a degree in order to understand each other's vocalizations, including dogs that can understand human laughter.

# Dogs can smell their owners from 11 miles away.

# For a dog, a person standing still 300 yards away is almost invisible. But if the owner is waving his arms, a dog can easily identify its owner standing a mile away.

# Recently, dogs have only been able to watch TV, as they need approximately 70 images per second which older TVs could not deliver.

# The only two species known to seek visual clues from another's eyes are humans and dogs. And dogs do it only with humans.

# Sometimes, dogs will fake being sick to get attention.

# The United States has the world's largest dog population. The second-largest is in France.

# Americans own 89.7 million dogs as of 2018.

# The most common dog breed in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, is the Labrador. These dogs are loyal, intelligent and good with kids, making them the perfect family pet.

# A survey found that 82 percent of people would be more confident in approaching an attractive person if they had their dog with them.

# If a guy has a dog with him, he is three times more likely to get a phone number from a girl.

# In a survey, 33 percent of dog owners reported talking to their dogs over the telephone, while some even said they left a voicemail for their pets whilst they were away.

# A study found that 93 percent of dog owners in the United States say their dog made them a better person in at least one way.

# It has been proven that petting dogs lower the blood pressure of dog owners.

# Around one million dogs in the United States are the primary beneficiaries in the wills of their owners.

# An individual should never kick a dog facing him or her. Some dogs can bite ten times before a human reacts.

# In the United States, over 86,000 people are injured each year by tripping over their cats and dogs.

# It is estimated that 2.8 million dog owners gave antidepressants to their dogs in 2012 alone.

# The first chapel for dogs was founded in 2001. It was founded by Stephan Huneck, a children's book author in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, whose five dogs helped him recover from a severe illness.

# You will have your dog listed as an "Emotional Support Dog" if you have the proper paperwork filed out, allowing you to bring him/her on to planes and allow him/her to live with you even though your lodging bans dogs.

# Max and Jake are the most common male dog names. Maggie and Molly are the most common female dog names.

# A research shows that owning a dog decreases the risk of depression by three times in HIV patients, which can lead to improved patient adherence to potentially lifesaving antiretroviral therapy ( ART).

# In 2014, a 3-year-old Russian girl survived in the Siberian taiga forest for 11 days by drinking from a creek and consuming berries while being covered by her dog, which after nine days went to get help and returned with rescuers.

# The maximum sentence for beating your dog in South Carolina is longer than the maximum sentence for beating your wife.

# In Norway, spaying or neutralizing your dog is illegal, except in very specific circumstances.

# The American Kennel Club was founded in 1884 and became the most influential dog club in the U.S.

# Costa Rica's "Territorio De Zaguates" (Land of the Strays) is a massive no-kill dog shelter, where you can hike with the dogs for free.

# A study found that 93 percent of dogs and 75 percent of cats missing in the United States are returned safely.

# There's a non-profit organization called "House with a Heart" that takes in and cares for senior dogs, all of them have special needs that their owners abandoned. The facility operates as a hospice, ensuring older dogs are not consigned to death, or worse, in shelters.

# Every year approximately 1.2 million dogs are euthanized in shelters.

# Plato once said that "a dog has the soul of a philosopher."

# The name of the Canary Islands comes from the Latin word for dog (Canariae Insulae, "Island of Dogs"). It's the canary birds that are named after the island.

# The national dog of Mexico is the Xoloitzcuintli.

# The Great Dane is Germany's national dog-the country it originated from. The dog breed has nothing to do with Denmark, despite its name.

# A dog was elected Mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota in August 2016 for its third term in a row.

# Tihar is a festival held in Nepal that dedicates the whole day to thanking dogs for their loyalty and friendship.

# Google prefers dogs over cats. Their official code of conduct specifically states that they are a dog company.

# Liberty, the dog of President Gerald Ford, was trained to create diversions during meetings. If Ford wanted to end a conversation in the Oval Office, he would signal Liberty and she would go to the guest wagging her tail, creating a natural break.

# Queen Elizabeth II was the owner of more than 30 Corgis, and when she is traveling they always fly with her. They were seen in official photos and on television at the opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics.

# During his 12 years and one month in residence, President Franklin D. Roosevelt has kept a total of 11 dogs at the White House.

# One of many historical figures to own pet dogs was George Washington. He had 36 of them in all and they all were foxhounds.

# Russian President Vladimir Putin brought a large dog with him to a round of negotiations with Germany's Angela Merkel, well knowing she had a pathological fear of dogs, just to gain a psychological edge.

# After a 3-year campaign and legislative process that started with a kindergartner asking the question, "Why does not Alaska have a state dog," the Alaskan Malamute became Alaska's state dog.

# The daughter of JFK has secretly gifted the puppy of the first Russian dog in space as part of a series of secret daily correspondence between JFK and Khrushchev. The dog then proceeded to bite every Kennedy.

# People were paid for collecting dog feces in Victorian London. It had been used to tanning leather.

# You can pay for your admission to the London Zoo during the 18th century by bringing a cat or a dog to feed the lions.

# The Nazis had attempted to teach dogs to talk and read.

# With a cyanide capsule, Hitler killed his dog. He also shot and buried the five puppies with their mother.

# The soviets trained dogs to serve as anti-tank bombers but the dogs attacked Russian tanks instead of their German targets as they used soviet tanks to train the dogs.

# Training a federally certified search and rescue dog costs around $10,000.

# In WW1, dogs were used as messengers, carrying orders in capsules attached to their bodies to the front lines.

# Service dogs are trained to know when they are on duty. They know they are at work when their harness is on. They become instantly playful and energetic when you take it off.

# Dogs may get PTSD. This affects 5 to10 percent of the working military dogs.

# The Vietnam War was the only war that classified military dogs as expendable equipment and did not allow them to return home. Of 4000 dogs, 3800 had been left behind.

# FIDO, the dog of Abraham Lincoln, was also assassinated.

# Weird dog laws include permitting police offers to bite a dog to quiet it in Palding, Ohio. Cats and dogs are not allowed to have sex without a permit in Ventura County, California.

# In Iran the owning a dog as a pet is against the law. However, this restriction does not apply if an owner can prove the dog is a guard or hunting dog. Muslim reticence about dogs may be due to the fact that rabies has always been endemic in the middle east.

# Among the 12 canines on board, 3 dogs survived the Titanic sinking.

# In Afghanistan, a British bomb detection dog died from the stress of seeing his handler shot. They had set a new record for bomb detections, and the dog was awarded a Victoria Cross equivalent.

# In Mexico City there are special bins where you get free wifi when you throw your dog poo in it. The more poo, the longer the free wifi.

# The most aggressive dog breeds are Dachshunds (Wiener dogs), Chihuahuas, and Jack Russell Terriers; not the Pitbull, Rottweiler, or Doberman, according to a 2008 report published in the journal of Applied Animal Behavior Science.

# Every year, USPS mail carriers are attacked by 6000 dogs.

# Researchers have found a way to treat rabies, a breakthrough which could lead to new vaccines including oral dog vaccines. Rabies kills nearly 60,000 people every year around the world.

# Despite Americans owning more than 78 million dogs as pets, dog attacks attribute to around 30 deaths every year, less than bees.

# Gabi, a German Shepherd guard dog in a Belgrade Zoo, fought and defeated an escaped jaguar in 1987, and thereby saved a zoo employee's life.

# In Afghanistan, three stray dogs rescued 50 American soldiers by attacking a suicide bomber. A group on Facebook raised $21,000 to bring the dogs back to the United States and reunite with the soldiers.

# In New Zealand, visitors can find a dog-shaped house-the ideal sight for dog lovers.

# In Scotland, there is a bridge on which dogs often leap to their deaths and nobody knows why.

# The dog's name on the box of Cracker Jacks is Bingo. The Taco Bell Chihuahua is a rescued dog named Gidget.

# Dogs are often placed with cheetahs in captivity to help keep them calm.

# The Aztecs brought Chihuahuas home to eat them.

# Many residents in Switzerland tend to eat dog and cat meat daily. It is legal in the country.

# Up to 3 percent of Switzerland’s population of 8 million, eat dog and/or cat meat. During the Christmas holidays, it is the most popular.

# In China 30,000 dogs are slaughtered for meat and fur each day.

# A dog attempted to save its owners lives in 2008 when five armed pirates stole their yacht off Venezuela's coast. They were furiously attacked by the dog after the men climbed aboard, biting and snapping until he was then shot and stabbed. The dog survived and the pirates left practically empty-handed.

# The phrase "man's best friend" was first used in the 1900s by Frederick the Great in the 18th Odgen Nash, an American poet, made use of the phrase in his work, thus making it a popular saying.

# At the end of "A Day in the Life" Paul McCartney recorded an ultrasonic whistle audible only to dogs.

# The dog who was playing Comet on "Full House" is the same dog that played Air Bud.

# A book credited to the dog of George H. W. Bush was on the US bestseller list for 23 weeks.

# Crab, the dog belonging to Launce in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, is one of Shakespeare's most mischievous characters. The term "watchdog" first appears in The Tempest.

# Rin Tin Tin, a five-day-old German Shepherd found injured in battle in WW1 France and adopted by an American soldier, Lee Duncan became Hollywood's first and arguably best canine superstar. He would sign his own paw print contracts.

# Walt Disney had a poodle named Lady. This was also the name of the Cocker Spaniel in Lady and the Tramp.

# In season one of HBO's Game of Thrones, a relatively new dog breed known as the Northern Inuit Dog had played the dire wolves.

# Popular dog actor Rin-Tin-Tin may have received the most votes for Best Actor's First Academy Award in 1929, but the Academy determined a human should win.

# In fact the dog that played Toto in the 1939 film 'The Wizard of Oz' was a female. The real name was Terry.

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