Think you know everything there is to know about dogs? Pet trainer for LeChic Pet and North Bend resident, Melissa Grant, debunks some myths and shares some lots of little-known facts and tid-bits about our furry four-legged friends.
DID YOU KNOW?
- It is a myth that dogs are color blind. They can actually see in color, just not as vividly as humans. It is similar to our vision at dusk.
- If never spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their puppies could produce over 66,000 dogs in 6 years!
- In Roman times, mastiffs donned light armor and were sent after mounted knights
- President Lyndon Johnson had two beagles named Him and Her
- The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts both offer merit badges in dog care
- The Ancient Chinese carried Pekingese puppies in the sleeves of their robes
- The oldest dog on record – a Queensland “Heeler” named Bluey – was 29 years, 5 months old
- An elderly woman was saved by her 12 pound Yorkshire Terrier who fought off an 80 pound Akita and survived with only 9 stitches
- The earliest dog fossil dates back to nearly 10,000 B.C
- Puppies sleep ninety percent of the day for their first few weeks
- Rin Tin Tin was the first Hollywood dog-star and he really signed his movie contracts – all 22 of them – with a paw print
- George Washington had 36 dogs – all foxhounds – with one named Sweetlips
- U.S. Customs dogs “Rocky” and “Barco” were so good at patrolling the border that Mexican drug lords put a $300,000 bounty on their heads
- All dogs are identical in anatomy – 321 bones and 42 permanent teeth
- Humans have kept dogs as pets for over 12,000 years
- Dogs judge objects first by their movement, then by their brightness, and lastly by their shape
- At the end of the Beatles’ song “A Day in the Life,” a high-pitched dog whistle was recorded by Paul McCartney for his sheepdog
- Dogs nose prints are as unique as a human’s finger prints and can be used to accurately identify them
- 70% of people sign their pet’s name on greeting and holiday cards
- Cerberus was the tri-headed dog that guarded the underworld in Greek mythology
