Interesting Facts about Dogs
Dogs are favorite family pets and great companions for humans. This post will tell you some interesting and fun facts about dogs.
Interesting Facts about Dogs
- According to estimates, there are 400 million dogs worldwide. That’s about 20 times the amount of people in Australia.
- Dogs respond better to voice commands than hand signals. Wolves (the animals from which dogs are descended) respond better to hand signals and are much harder to train than dogs.
- Some female mothers regurgitate (throw up) their food so the puppies can eat it.
- There are over 800 different breeds of dogs recognized by different kennel clubs around the world.
- Most dogs are very obedient and easy to train. Dogs are used to herd sheep, hunt animals, keep rats away and helping fishermen pull nets.
- There is a serious overpopulation of dogs (and cats) in the United States. More than 3 million dogs are put down each year as there are not enough homes that will take dogs. You can help keep the population down by donating to the SPCA Spay and Neuter Program.
- Puberty begins in both male and female dogs between the age of 6-12 months.
- Some foods humans eat are dangerous to dogs. These include chocolate, onions, grapes, raisins, gum and Macadamia nuts. Alcohol is also potentially dangerous.
- In the wild, dogs eat a lot of plants and fruit.
- Hyenas have been know to prey on dogs in some parts of the world.
- Dogs can get many of the same illnesses that humans get. These include diabetes, arthritis, cancer and epilepsy. Large dogs can also suffer from bloat (which is a very serious condition).
- Dogs can see moving objects much better than still objects.
- The largest dog ever measured (an English Mastiff) weighed 343lb (155.6kg).
- People who breed dogs call the father of a litter the ‘sire’ and the mother is the ‘dam’.
Other Interesting Facts: