41. A puppy needs to learn to walk just like human babies. This usually happens around age 2 or 3 weeks. They will be wobbly at first…They will find their balance and stretch out their muscles by 4 weeks and will soon after be running and jumping around.
42. There is such a thing as a lavender dog. It is rare, however a lavender Pomeranian can exist… it is a black that is diluted to blue via breeding and then the blue is diluted to light purple via breeding.
43. Some breeds have webbed paws; this is because they were bred to be swimming dogs.
44. Small breeds are considered adults at 1 year… Medium and large breeds are considered adults at 2 years.
45. The Chinese Crested Hairless and the American Hairless Terrier do not have any fur.
46. A canine has better night vision than a human.
47. The rarest dog breed is the Cisky Terrier, there are only about 350 Cisky Terriers in the whole world.
48. Dogs have twice as many muscles then a human.
49. A German Shepherd guide dog led her blind companion the over the 2100 mile long Appalachian Trail.
50. Chihuahuas are born with a soft spot on the skull called the Molera, the same as human babies…and it slowly closes over time.
51. There is a breed called the Lundehune that naturally has 6 toes on each paws and they are able to close their ears.
52. A dog’s mouth puts forth 150-200 pounds of pressure per square inch.
53. Those living in a city generally live about 3 years longer than those living in the country.
54. Basset Hounds cannot swim due to their very short legs.
55. The word dog appears in the Bible 14 times.
56. Over 1 million dogs are the beneficiaries in their owner’s will.
57. Dogs determine what an object is by first noticing their movement, then by the brightness, and finally by the shape.
58. All dogs have 321 bones in the body and 42 permanent teeth.
59. Some sleep and nap as much as 19 hours per day, even some adults.
60. Rocky and Barco, U.S. Custom working dogs were so successful at detecting drugs that were being transported over the border that Mexican drug lords placed a 300 thousand dollar bounty on their heads.
61. Formal dog training first began in the U.S. in 1916 and was organized to help WWI soldiers who were blinded during the war. Soon afterward a woman named Dorothy Eutis trained a German Shepherd to be the very first guide dog in Switzerland. The dog was named Kiss and was renamed Buddy when he went to his new owner.
62. Wolves and dog can successfully mate and produce wolf hybrid puppies.
63. In the history of record keeping, every single breed has at one time or another attacked livestock….This amazing dog fact includes breeds all the way from the tiny Chihuahua to the friendly Sheepdog.
64. Dogs can register sounds of 35,000 vibrations per second while a person can only hear 20,000.
65. They have incredible internal time clocks and will know exactly when to expect an owner to come home, when it is meal time, etc.
66. The most widely used name, "Fido" "fidelity" in Latin, which relates to the fact that canine pets are very loyal.
67. Collars have been put on dogs dating way back to Ancient Egypt.
68. In Iceland, technically it is illegal to own a dog as a pet.
69. A breed called the Saluki is the oldest of all breeds, thought to originate in 300 BC.
70. In the 1900's, it was common for traveling circuses to have American Eskimo dogs that were trained to walk on tight ropes.
71. Most dogs have 10 more teeth than humans do, they have 42, we have 32.
72. The reason why dogs are so good at lapping up water is because they curl up the back of their tongues, essentially creating a bowl shape to scoop up the water.
73. Female dogs bite 2x more often than males.
74. Dogs living in urban areas generally live 3 more years than dogs living in rural areas.
75. Just as humans are left or right handed, dogs favor one paw over the other.
76. Dogs are omnivores, they cannot survive on meat alone, their bodies need vegetables as well (and many dogs enjoy fruits)
77. Male and female secrete pheromones in order to communicate with each other.
78. It is thought that cavemen domesticated dogs..This happened when wild dogs stayed close to them to eat any food scraps…and the ones that did not show aggression were brought into the group to serve as companions and working dogs.
79. There is no language barrier with canines. Researchers have come to the conclusion that dogs from different countries appear to immediately understand each other barks (and it has been proven that canines do speak via their vocalization)
80. The average dog can learn 200 words (commands, names of objects, etc.) A Border Collie learned to understand 1022 words.
81. Alphabetically, the first dog breed is the Afador and the last is the Zuchon.
82. In Beijing, 41 different dog breeds are banned from living in the city, being classified as "big and vicious".
83. What was described as a "gang" of feral cats attacked a woman and her Poodle in France. Both victims were taken to the hospital and recovered. While it is not understood what prompted the attack, officials state that over 8K stray cats are born each day in the country.
84. It has been proven that dogs can learn solely from the actions of humans (no speaking of commands or praise at all). Through only gestures and body language, dogs can learn just as much as with training involving vocalization.
85. Studies have proven that dogs are 4 times more likely to steal food in a dark room than a lighted room, showing that they take into account what they believe their owner can or cannot see before making a move to misbehave.
86. Dogs are better than chimpanzees in regard to understanding pointing gestures.
87. Studies prove that dogs understand when they are unfairly treated in regard to receiving reward and praise in multiple dog households. They react by showing what is described as the canine equivalent of envy.
88. When physically or emotionally tired, dogs are more likely to have poor decision making skills, i.e. carrying out actions that can lead to injury.
89. Dogs can recognize other dogs when shown pictures on a computer.
90. Breeding over the last 20 years has changed the location of the brain with certain dogs. The brains of many brachycephalic breeds (flat, short snouts like the Pug and Boxer) have been found to be located further to the front of the cranium (15 degrees on average).
91. A study done in the UK showed that dogs behave with more confidence when in the presence of their owners.
92. Fruit is an important part of a dog's diet; some of the fruit that canines can safely eat are: bananas, cranberries, pears, raspberries and blueberries.
93. Dogs can now watch and see TV just as humans do. With older style televisions, dogs only saw flickering images; however with flat screens, they see everything just as we do.
94. Dogs listen to their owners much more often when talked to in a confident, assertive manner as opposed to yelling.
95. Some of the things that official guide dogs are trained to do is to: stop at the bottom of stairs and not move until told to, recognize passages and overheads that the owner will not be able to fit through and to bring their handler to elevator buttons.
96. It is a myth that a sign of a healthy dog is a cold wet nose. Perfectly healthy dogs can have dry, warm noses.
97. The U.S. military currently has over 3000 dogs in service.
98. In Moscow, it is a common occurrence for stray dogs to ride the subway.
99. Police dogs in Dallas and other major cities wear bulletproof vests.
100. Although it’s difficult for humans to differentiate between identical twins (when they do not know the children), dogs can do much better. Trained German Shepherds can pick up on scent variations between both identical and non-identical twins.
101. Spiked dog collars were invented in ancient Greece to protect pet dogs from wolves.
102. A German Shepherd named Rocky living in California literally chewed off his entire hind paw in order to successfully free himself of being tied. The tether was so tight that it cut off circulation to the limb, leaving rescue workers to assume that he bite off his own paw to save himself. He survived the ordeal and was taken to a shelter.
Information gathered and edited by Alisa Chagnon