· A dog’s normal body temperature is 100.5 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
· Small dogs live the longest. Toy breeds live up to 16 years or more. Large dogs average 10 – 14 years. A dog’s age depends many a times on how well you take care and maintain your dog.
· Most pet owners (94 percent) say that their pet makes them smile more than once a day.
· Docking of tail and ears for breeds such as Doberman and Boxers is illegal in many countries. This was originally practiced in cold countries to avoid frost bite and damage to the dog while on hunting expeditions.
· According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the smallest dog on record is a Yorkshire Terrier in Great Britain who, at the age of 2, weighed just 4 ounces.
· 70 % of the people in America, sign their pet’s name on greeting cards and 58 % include their pets in family and holiday portraits, according to a survey done by the American Animal Hospital Association.
· If never spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their puppies could produce over 66,000 dogs in 6 years!
· Dogs don’t like rain because the sound is amplified and hurts their very sensitive ears.
· Spaying/neutering your dog at the age of 6 months can help prevent cancer in your dog.
· Dogs’ sense of hearing is ten times more acute than human hearing.
· The U.S. has the highest pet population in the world.
· An adult dog has 42 teeth.
· Dogs can smell about 1,000 times better than humans. While humans have 5 million smell detecting cells, dogs have more than 220 million. The part of the brain that interprets smell is also four times larger in dogs than in humans.
· Puppies acquire a full mouth of permanent teeth between four and seven months old.
· All dogs can be traced back 40 million years ago to a weasel-like animal called the Miacis which dwelled in trees and dens. The Miacis later evolved into the Tomarctus,a direct forbearer of the genus Canis, which includes the wolf and jackal as well as the dog.
· The oldest dog, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was an Australian Cattle Dog, named Bluey, who lived to be 29.
· It has been established that people who own pets live longer, have less stress, and have fewer heart attacks.
· A dog’s whiskers have touch sensitive hair called vibrissae. They are found on the muzzle, above the eyes and below the jaws, and can actually sense tiny changes in airflow.
· A dog’s heart beats between 70 and 120 times a minute, compared with a human heart which beats 70 to 80 times a minute.
· A female carries her young about 60 days before the puppies are born.
· Dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible.
· According to Hindu mythology, Sarama, the dog of the Devas (gods) is the mother of all canines.
· In 1957, Laika, a mongrel from Russia became the first living being in space via an earth satellite.
· The only sweat glands a dog has are between the paw pads.
· An estimated One million dogs in United States have been named primary beneficiary in their owners will.
· The common belief that dogs are color blind is false. Dogs can see color, but it is not as vivid a color scheme as we see. They distinguish between blue, yellow, and gray, but probably do not see red and green. This is much like our vision at twilight.
· About 6 million dogs are diagnosed with cancer each year.
· 33 percent of dog owner admit that they talk to their dog on phone or leave a message on answering machine while away.
