We know you love dogs, otherwise you wouldn’t have found yourself on this page. But there are so many fascinating facts about dogs it can be tough to know them all. Still, these incredible animals constantly amaze us and we’re always looking to learn more about them. They offer their friendship and unconditional love while understanding nothing about us. The least we can do is try to learn a little bit about their lives. From simple fun facts to heartwarming historical moments, dogs have given so much to us that deserves recognition.
1. Dogs can see much better in low lighting than humans can. This is because of a special membrane, called the tapetum lucidum, that reflects light from the back of the eye to the retina. This causes brighter images in the dogs’ eyes during low lighting.
2. A dog’s normal body temperature is 101-102.5ºF, so don’t panic thinking your dog is running a fever if their temperature is in this range.
3. Dogs only sweat through the pads of their feet. This, accompanied with the cooling effects of panting, mean that dogs have a harder time cooling down than we do.
4. A dog’s sense of smell is 10,000-100,000 times greater than the average human’s. To put this in perspective, we’ll assume it’s 10,000 times better. While we might notice a teaspoon of sugar in our cup of coffee, a dog could smell that teaspoon of sugar in 1 million gallons of water.
5. Dogs hear high-pitched sounds very well. Sounds are measured in Hertz and the higher the Hertz, the higher the pitch. Humans hear best around 2,000 Hz while dogs hear best at 8,000 Hz.
6. You’ve probably noticed that dogs use their ears a lot! This is because they have over a dozen muscles dedicated to ear movement.
7. Have you ever noticed your dog kicking the grass up after going to the bathroom? This is because they’re using their scent glands in their feet to help mark their territory.
8. It used to be believed that dogs only see in black and white, but this is untrue. Dogs see a variety of blue, greenish-yellow, yellow and shades of gray.
9. The average dog is as intelligent as the average 2-year-old human child. This is easily believable considering they are so easy to train and communicate with compared to most other animals.
10. There were three dogs that survived the sinking of the Titanic – all lap dogs from first class cabins. They were two Pomeranians and a Pekingese.
11. A German Shepherd Dog was a seeing-eye dog for his owner, Bill Irwin, during their 2,100 trek across the Appalachian Trail. Irwin was the first blind man to make this journey.
12. The 1925 serum run to Nome is remembered by the incredible sled dogs that saved the lives of many sick people. With an antitoxin shortage and weather not permitting regular mail to deliver the medication, 20 mushers and roughly 150 sled dogs relayed across 674 miles of the Alaskan arctic to transport the medication. They are best remembered by the dogs Balto and Togo, two of the lead sled dogs on two different teams.
13. Dogs can sense various medical conditions, including blood sugar levels in Diabetic owners and the onset of seizures in people with epilepsy. Dogs have even discovered cancer in patients where human doctors were unable to find it.
14. Ever wonder why your pup’s paws smell like some of your favorite snacks (corn chips or popcorn, anyone)? It’s actually due to bacteria growing on their paws. Don’t worry, it’s totally normal.
15. Nearly 350 search and rescue dogs were deployed and worked tirelessly to find missing persons during the devastating attacks on September 11, 2001 in New York City. These dogs not only found living and deceased victims during their searches, they comforted law enforcement officers, firefighters and many others during their long days.
