Humans and dogs have been living side-by-side for about 15,000 years and the world dog population has known a pretty significant growth with the United States at the top of the ranking for almost 70 millions dogs and Brazil in the second place with a dog population of 35 millions (UK in the ninth place) according to stevedalepetworld website.
With all this in mind, one might think we know each other very well. but there’s more to dogs than fetching staffs and playing around. Here are some little-known facts about man’s best and oldest friend:
15- Dogs can hear about 4 times stronger than humans.
Basically, puppies can’t hear until the age of 21 days nor they can see too in this period, but by the time their sense of hearing is completely developed, they can hear 4 times stronger than what humans do.
Dogs (dogs with perked ears and not hanging ears) have about 18 muscles in their ears allowing them to be mobile and move in the direction of the sound, whereas humans only have 6 muscles (more information at dogbreedinfo).
14- A dog’s nose print is as unique in identifying them as our fingerprint is to us.
Just as humans are identified by their fingerprints, dogs can be identified by their nose prints. A dog nose print is unique to him and no two dogs have the same print just as no two human fingerprints are the same.
Few places in the United States have already adopted dog nose printing as a common way of identifying lost dogs, however the Canadian Kennel Club has been accepting dog nose prints as proof of identity since 1938. The general consensus is that nose printing is a more reliable way of matching identity, as dog tags can easily be lost or even removed (see more at allpetnews.com).
13- Dogs’ sense of smell is at least 1000 times stronger than ours.
while a dog’s brain is only one-tenth the size of a human brain, the part that controls smell is 40 times larger than in humans. A human has about 5 million scent glands, compared to a dog, who has anywhere from 125 million to 300 million (depending on the breed). With all this, no surprise a dog’s sense of smell is about 1,000 to 10,000,000 times more sensitive than a human’s (depending on the breed).
12- It’s an old myth that dogs see only in black and white.
Although they see differently to humans, they’re still able to detect strains of yellow and blue and are only red-green colour blind.
11- Dogs can be as smart as two year-old children.
With the ability to learn a similar average number of words, dogs can be as smart as two year-old children with the ability (for some in the breed) to learn up to 200 words. Border collies are the top dogs in the intelligence category. Poodles, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers and Dobermans followed as the smartest dogs.
Older breeds like hound dogs, bulldogs and beagles are among the slow learners of the doggie world.
10- A female dog carries her puppies for about 60 days before they are born.
Dog pregnancies last about two months, with puppies entering the world between day 56 and 70 of gestation. Litter size typically ranges between a single pup or up to a dozen and differs depending on numerous factors. The size of the breed offers the biggest determination of litter size, as a great Dane can carry a larger litter than a Chihuahua can.
9- Your dog does have a sense of time — and misses you when you’re gone.
If you think your dog knows when it’s time for dinner or a walk, you’re right! Dogs pick up on our routines and habits, and they also sense how much time has passed. One study showed how dogs responded differently to their owners being gone for different lengths of time, thing which you probably already noticed with your dog or just seen in one of those videos on the internet.
8- Dogs feel jealousy.
Dogs know when they’re not being treated equally. A 2008 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that when dogs see each other getting reward for a trick they’ve performed unrewarded, the unrewarded dogs become agitated, scratching themselves and avoiding the gaze of the rewarded dogs. They also stopped doing the trick much faster than if they were alone and not getting a reward (see more).
The dogs’ version of jealousy however isn’t that sophisticated as a human’s: The animals didn’t seem to mind if other dogs got sausage while they just got bread, and they didn’t care if another dog got food for nothing while they had to do tricks for a snack.
7- Dogs sometimes share our emotions – getting stressed or upset when their owners do.
They can feel a range of emotions, from optimism and pessimism to depression and jealousy, and of course, a whole lot of love and affection.
6- Dogs get our diseases …
Humans and canines aren’t so different after all, at least regarding what makes us sick. About 6 million dogs are diagnosed with cancer each year, and dogs get canine versions of rare human disorders like the brain-wasting neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis that leads to the inability to walk or control their muscles.
5- Dogs can smell our diseases too.
If you have cancer, diabetes, or epilepsy, your dog might be the first to know. Studies have shown that dogs can be trained to sniff out cancers of the lung, breast, skin, bladder and prostate. Researchers suspect the canines are picking up on extraordinarily faint scents given off by the abnormal cells.
Dogs are also being increasingly used as service animals for people with diabetes, whose health can be harmed when their blood sugar peaks or drops. Specially trained dogs can detect the scent of these fluctuations (sweet for high blood sugar, acidic for low) and alert their owners before they even feel symptoms.
4- Dogs dream too.
In fact, they experience similar stages of dreaming to humans – including rapid eye movement (REM: which is the stage of dreaming we humans tend to remember). Twitches and paw movements are just some of the ways you can spot a dreaming dog. Even more amazing? Harvard experts suggest that your dog is quite likely to be dreaming about you.
3- The Norwegian Lundehund is the only dog that has six toes on each foot.
The Norwegian Lundehund is a small, rectangular Spitz type dog that has a long history. In fact, he’s the most ancient of the Nordic dog breeds, scientific research indicates that the breed has been in existence since before the last Ice Age, surviving by eating fish and sea birds (more details).
If You Sleep With Your Dog In Bed, This Is Something You Might Want To Know.
2- Your dog’s furball can make you sick.
We’ve all heard the canard that dogs’ mouths are cleaner than humans (they’re not), but in reality, dogs can carry pathogens that harm humans. Rabies, a fatal neurological disease, is the most famous (remember Old Yeller?), though vaccines, mandated by law in most states, can stop the spread. In a few cases, dog food has been known to cause food poisoning in humans, thanks to contamination by Salmonella bacteria. Perhaps creepiest of all is a 2003 study published in The Veterinary Record, which found that humans could contract the parasitic roundworm Toxocara canis just be stroking an infected dogs’ fur. The roundworm, which grows in dogs’ intestines, can grow in the back of the eye in humans, causing blindness. They also sometimes take up residence in human livers and lungs.
1- Dogs align themselves with the earth’s magnetic field before pooping.
Studies demonstrate that dogs align themselves with the earth magnetic preferring to face either north or south before doing their business … so yeah .. Thanks science.
