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 behavior. 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 favorite 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 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.