Fun Facts

Ancient Egyptians revered their dogs. When a pet dog would die, the owners shaved off their eyebrows, smeared mud in their hair, and mourned aloud for days.

A dog’s shoulder blades are unattached to the rest of the skeleton to allow greater flexibility for running.

The shape of a dog’s face suggests how long it will live. Dogs with sharp, pointed faces that look more like wolves typically live longer. Dogs with very flat faces, such as bulldogs, often have shorter lives.

The most popular male dog names are Max and Jake. The most popular female dog names are Maggie and Molly.

In Iran, it is against the law to own a dog as a pet. However, if an owner can prove the dog is a guard or hunting dog, this restriction doesn’t apply. Muslim reticence concerning dogs is perhaps due to the fact that rabies has always been endemic in the Middle East.

Dachshunds were bred to fight badgers in their dens.

Laiki, a Russian stray, was the first living mammal to orbit the Earth, in the Soviet Sputnik spacecraft in 1957. Though she died in space, her daughter Pushnika had four puppies with President John F. Kennedy’s terrier, Charlie.

One of Shakespeare’s most mischievous characters is Crab, the dog belonging to Launce in the Two Gentlemen of Verona. The word “watchdog” is first found in The Tempest.

Eighteen muscles or more can move a dog’s ear.

The U.S. has the highest dog population in the world. France has the second highest.

Petting dogs is proven to lower blood pressure of dog owners.

Dogs have lived with humans for over 14,000 years. Cats have lived with people for only 7,000 years.

Zorba, an English mastiff, is the biggest dog ever recorded. He weighed 343 pounds and measured 8' 3" from his nose to his tail.

The most popular dog breed in Canada, U.S., and Great Britain is the Labrador retriever.

The oldest dog on record was an Australian cattle dog named Bluey who lived 29 years and 5 months. In human years, that is more than 160 years old.

Some dogs can smell dead bodies under water, where termites are hiding, and natural gas buried under 40 feet of dirt. They can even detect cancer that is too small to be detected by a doctor and can find lung cancer by sniffing a person’s breath.

The Beagle came into prominence in the 1300s and 1400s during the days of King Henry VII of England. Elizabeth I was fond of Pocket Beagles, which were only 9" high.

The grief suffered after a pet dog dies can be the same as that experienced after the death of a person.

One survey reports that 33 percent of dog owners admit they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages on answering machines while they are away.

For more fun facts, go to http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/02/15_dogs.html