Some facts about dogs

1. Ancient Egyptians revered their dogs. When a pet dog died, the owners shaved off their eyebrows, smeared mud in their hair, and mourned aloud for days.{{more}}

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

3. The phrase “raining cats and dogs” originated in 17th century England. During heavy rainstorms, many homeless animals would drown and float down the streets, giving the appearance that it had actually rained cats and dogs.

4. 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.

5. The most dogs ever owned by one person were 5,000 mastiffs owned by Kubla Khan.

6. Dachshunds were bred to fight badgers in their dens.

7. Dalmatians are completely white at birth.

8. The term “dog days of summer” was coined by the ancient Greeks and Romans to describe the hottest days of summer that coincided with the rising of the Dog Star, Sirius.

9. A puppy is born blind, deaf, and toothless.

10. The Basenji is the world’s only barkless dog.

11. A dog can locate the source of a sound in 1/600 of a second and can hear sounds four times farther away than a human can.

12. Touch is the first sense the dog develops. The entire body, including the paws, is covered with touch-sensitive nerve endings.

13. There are an estimated 400 million dogs in the world.

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

15. Dog nose prints are as unique as human finger prints and can be used to identify them.

16. Petting dogs has proven to lower blood pressure of dog owners.

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

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

19. The average dog can run about 19 mph. Greyhounds are the fastest dogs on Earth and can run at speeds of 45 mph.

20. The oldest dog on record was an Australian cattle dog named Bluey who lived 29 years and five months.

21. Dogs can smell about 1,000 times better than humans. While humans have five million smell-detecting cells, dogs have more than 220 million. The part of the brain that interprets smell is also four times larger in dogs than in humans.

22. Thirty percent of all Dalmatians are deaf in one or both ears. Because bulldogs have extremely short muzzles, many spend their lives fighting suffocation. Because Chihuahuas have such small skulls, the flow of spinal fluid can be restricted, causing hydrocephalus, a swelling of the brain.

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