You probably do know the majority of these dog facts but there were a few that surprised me – like #12 and #15! Which ones didn’t you know?

1. A one year old dog is as mature, physically, as a 15 year old human.
2. The average city dog lives 3 years longer than country dogs.
3. 87% of dog owners say their dog curls up beside them or at their feet while they watch T.V. (via an independent survey)
4. Dogs can be trained to detect epileptic seizures.
5. Three dogs survived the sinking of the Titanic – a Newfoundland, a Pomeranian, and a Pekingese.
6. An estimated 1,000,000 dogs in the U.S. have been named as the primary beneficiaries in their owner’s will.
7. An American Animal Hospital Assoc. poll found that 33% of dog owners admit to talking to their dogs on the phone and leaving answering machine messages for them while away.
8. 70% of people sign their pet’s name on greeting and holiday cards and 58% put pets in family and holiday portraits.
9. A dog’s sense of smell is more than 100,000 times stronger than that of a human’s.
10. Chocolate contains a substance known as theobromine (similar to caffeine) which can kill dogs or at the very least make them violently ill.
11. The longer a dog’s nose, the more effective it’s internal cooling system.
12. 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.
13. A dog’s heart beats up to 120 times per minute, or 50% faster than the average human heartbeat of 80 times per minute.
14. Dogs live 15 years on average.
15. An African wolf dog known as the basenji is the only dog in the world that cannot bark.
16. Only dogs and humans have prostates.
17. Bingo is the name of the dog on the side of the Cracker Jack box.
18. Humans have kept dogs as pets for over 12,000 years.
19. A dog’s mouth exerts 150-200 pounds of pressure per square inch, with some as high as 450.
20. It is a myth that dogs are color blind. They can actually see in color, just not as vividly as humans. It is akin to our vision at dusk.
21. Basset Hounds cannot swim.
22. Obesity is the #1 health problem among dogs.
23. Dogs have two times as many muscles to move their ears as people.
24. Wolves and dogs can mate to produce fertal offspring.

[image: sxc]

Post from: Blisstree

24 Things You Might Not Know About Dogs

The Early Show on CBS did a segment last week on the smartest and dumbest dog breeds. I’ve heard of some breeds not being as bright as others, I’m not sure what their criteria was.

Anyway, they say the dumbest breeds are:

1. Afghan Hound
2. Basenji
3. Bulldog
4. Chow Chow
5. Borzois
6. Bloodhound
7. Pekingese
8. Mastiff
9. Beagle
10. Basset hound

and the smartest are:

1. Border Collie
2. Poodle
3. German Shepherd
4. Golden Retriever
5. Doberman Pinscher
6. Shetland Sheepdog
7. Labrador Retriever
8. Papillon
9. Rottweiler
10. Australian Cattle Dog

Like I said, I’m not sure what they’re basing their rankings on exactly. I’ve known a pretty smart beagle and a dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks poodle so it’s a safe bet that it’s all relative anyway!

What do you think of the lists?

[image: flickr]

Post from: Blisstree

Smartest and Dumbest Dog Breeds