So you think you know your dog pretty well? Here are a few facts on canines you may not have heard before …

  1. Dogs are not colour blind – that’s a myth. They can see colours but not as vividly as humans can. It’s comparable to our vision at dusk.
  2. A dog’s nose print is as unique as a person’s fingerprint. A nose print can be used to accurately identify a dog.
  3. We all know about the dog’s brilliant sense of smell … A human has an average of 5 million scent receptors, while a Dachshund has 125 million. But did you know that the wetness of a dog’s nose is critical in tracking the direction smells come from?
  4. A dog has twice the number of muscles to move its ears as people do and its hearing is ten times better than ours.
  5. The only sweat glands a dog has are in its paws. Its main form of cooling down, unlike a human, is by panting.
  6. Dogs dream like humans! Dogs and humans share the same rapid eye movement (REM) sleep during which dreams happen. If your dog is twitching or moving its paws while it’s sleeping, it’s probably dreaming.
  7. When it comes to canine intelligence, three dog breeds top the list – Border Collies, Poodles and Golden Retrievers. On the other hand, Afghan Hounds are not too bright! It has been estimated that the average dog is as intelligent as a two-year old child.
  8. In the size stakes, the biggest breed of dog is the Irish Wolfhound, the smallest is the Chihuahua and the heaviest is the St Bernard.
  9. The fastest dog breed, the Greyhound, can reach speeds of 70 kilometres an hour!
  10. Dogs can be trained to assist not only the blind, but also epilepsy sufferers. Some will bark to summon assistance, while others will lie next to the person to help prevent injury. Some dogs can even sense an epileptic attack before it happens.

One thing’s for sure and that’s the fact that our dogs need us to take care of them.

 

Source: Dotsure

Recent Posts