Fun Dog Facts…..Who Knew?

 
*Grapes, raisins & chocolate are among some of the foods that are toxic to dogs.
 
*”It’s raining cats & dogs!”; although there is no difinitive proof of where this phrase came from, one theory is that it derived from the Viking God Odin, the god of storms, who was often accompanied by dogs and wolves, said to represent wind. Witches, who were said to often take the form of a cat and ride their brooms in storms, could be the representation of rain. Thus the phrase could well mean that it’s raining cats (or, rain) & dogs (wind).
 
*You should never smile at an unfamiliar dog! Dog’s show their teeth to each other to display aggression. When you smile at a dog, he may interpret it the same!
 
*A typical dog is as smart as a 2 year old child. If you teach him, your dog can learn to understand words, actions, counting & more!
 
*All puppies are deaf and blind when they are born. It takes about 2 weeks before their ear canals open, and about the same for the eyes to open. But, even then, it takes a bit longer before they reach their full capacity.
 
*Dogs can be good for your health. It is a proven fact that petting a dog can lower your blood pressure and reduce stress and anxiety. They can also curb lonliness and help with depression. People who own dogs often walk them, and that is great for cardiovascular health!
 
*Dogs have 10 additional teeth in their mouths than that of humans; a dog has 42, while a human has 32.
 
*Dogs can be extremely beneficial in the lives of persons with disabilities. They can be seeing eye dogs, accompany and assist those with anxiety disorders, companions to children of autism and even early warners to those who have seizures.
 
*The distance that dogs can hear is about 4 times than that of a human.
 
*More than half of the dog owning population include their dog in their holiday photos!
 
*At the end of the Beatles song, “A Day in the Life”, they added a high frequency whistle that can only be heard by dogs.
 
*Contrary to popular belief, dogs are not color blind, they just don’t see as many colors as we do.
 
*Apple seeds and stems contain cyanogenic glycosides which can be toxic to your dog if consumed in large quantities.
 
*A dog folds its tongue to form a ladle while drinking; however, most of the water makes it from bowl to mouth simply because the motion of their tongue is so fast that there’s no time for the water to fall back into the bowl.
 
*Left to their own devices, stray dogs in Moscow, Russia have learned to ride the subway in order to seek out food in multiple areas of the city.
 
*One reason a dog can run so fast is that his shoulder blades are not attached to the rest of the skeleton.
 
*Some dogs can sniff out cancer through a person’s breath, or through urine.
 
*The first sense that a puppy develops is the sense of touch.
 
*Studies on a dog’s brain through the use of MRI have now determined that dogs truly do love their owners, they’re not just in it for the food after all!