22 Dog Facts Every Dog Lover Probably Knows

I recently had the opportunity to lay my hands on a National Geographic magazine titled “The Secret Life of Dogs: Out of the Wild and Into Our Homes.“. As a dog lover and someone ones who have had different breeds of dogs in the past, I was fascinated by all the knowledge I found in the magazine. The content of the magazine is divided into three main parts – from Wolf to Woof; the Human-Dog bond and; inside Dog behaviour. I was able to learn a lot of new things and relearn some of the things I already knew. Some of these I listed as facts which you can read about further on.

If you are a real dog lover, you may already know all of these. If not, I am glad to be the one to inform you about them. Here they are.

22 Dog Facts

1. A dog’s noseprint is as unique as a human fingerprint.
2. Dogs sleep an average of 12 to 14 hours a day.
3. Dogs were buried with dead rulers to protect them from harm in the afterlife.
4. Dogs instinctively sleep curled up to protect their vital organs and keep themselves warm.
5. Dogs have a third eyelid in the corner of each eye.
6. 5000 Mastiffs is the highest number of dogs owned by a single person. That person is Kublai Khan, an ancient Chinese emperor.
7. Dogs can be right-pawed or left-pawed.
8. Dogs have 18 muscles controlling their ears.
9. Smell is a dog’s most powerful sense – 100,000 times more sensitive than human’s.
10. In the United States, 69 million households own at least one dog.
11. Basenji (“African barkless dog”), Dingo (Australia’s wild dog), New Guinea (north of Australia) singing dog and Saluki (Middle East’s hunting dogs) are considered to be the oldest dod breeds.
12. Dogs sweat only from their paws, and have to cool down by panting.
13. Some dog breeds have webbed feet to help them swim.
14. Poodles were bred to retrieve birds from lakes and ponds for their hunter-owners.
15. Dogs are capable of learning household tasks – loading a washing machine, retrieving items by name etc.
16. Border collies, Poodles, German shepherds, Golden retrievers and Doberman pinschers are said to be the top five smartest dog breeds.
17. Your dog’s favourite smell is you. The more body odor you have, the more they like it.
18. Dogs are faster than humans do.
19. Most dogs are fully grown by their first birthday.
20. Dogs yawn to calm themselves down, as well as when they are tired.
21. A dog can make about 100 different facial expressions.
22. Dogs have a sense of time.

How many of these dog facts did you already know? Or are there other facts not listed here? I would be glad to read your response to this. If you feel like sharing your response, you can do that by writing a comment below this post.