Dogs have long been called “man's best friend,” but how many facts about dogs do you know? This page will teach you all about dogs – how they came to live in peace with humans, why there are so many different breeds, why dogs behave the way they do and much more.
Dogs as you see them today didn't 'evolve' like most other animals.
Dogs don't occur by themselves in nature – they were 'created' by humans through a couple of very deliberate processes.
The first of these is what's called 'domestication' – taking an animal from the wild and making it tame enough to live around people. The domestication of dogs is the first process.
There's still a bit of disagreement among scientists about how we
got from wild wolves to the modern day Chihuahua. This is because
attempts to domesticate animals these days – wild foxes, for example
– have almost all failed.
Some people have tried to domesticate
wolves, or create hybrids between dogs and wolves, but these animals
have almost always ended up being aggressive and going back to 'wild'
behavior.
The explanation usually given is that in the distant past, humans
probably found wolf cubs and raised them as part of the 'human
family' because of the way wolves could help them with hunting.
But
it took a long time to go from this kind of domestic wolf to what
could really be called a dog – the friendly, lovable pets we see
everywhere today.
This would have been achieved by breeding the
friendliest domestic wolves together over many years until a new
species was created: the dog.
Another theory suggests that it was wolves who first saw the value
of teaming up with humans, realizing they were better off eating
scraps from animals that humans caught rather than trying to
actually eat humans.
This theory says that wolves started coming in
close to human camps to pick up leftovers about 12,000 years ago and
the bond began to form.
Number 1: Most dogs live around 12 to 15 years,
although lifespan is different between breeds. The oldest dog
recorded was 29.
Number 2:
The relationship
between humans and dogs is believed to stretch back 14,000 years.
Number 3: The tallest dog in the world is a
Great Dane called 'Giant George,' who is over 43 inches tall (about
109 centimeters) and 245 pounds (about 111 kilograms).
Number 4: Dogs are omnivores – that means they eat both
meat and plants.
Number 5: Dogs, wolves and
foxes have a common ancestor in the 'Miacis,' a small creature that
lived in trees 40 million years ago
Number 6: Chocolate is poisonous to dogs
Number 7: There are cave paintings of dogs in Spain which date back 12,000
years
Number 8: Just as every human has their
own unique fingerprints, dogs all have a unique nose print – no two
dog noses have the same pattern!
Number 9:
The heaviest dog ever recorded was 290 pound (about 145 kilograms).
Number 10: The Labrador Retriever is the most common breed in America (according to registrations with the
American Kennel Club)
There you go! Now you know 10 things about dogs that many people don't know. Now let's zoom in on some of the dog's most fascinating features: how the dog's anatomy works, how they behave, and their relationship with human beings throughout history.
The dog's anatomy reflects its ancestor and close cousin, the wolf.
Wolves and dogs both have sharp teeth and strong jaws. They have a warm coat which allow them to survive bad weather and tough outdoor conditions (except for breeds like the American Hairless Terrier, which, as the name suggests, has no hair!).
The shape of a dog's ears differ from breed to breed. Dogs with ears that stand up straight can generally hear better than dogs with floppy ears. The pointy ears are similar to those of the dog's wild relatives like the fox and wolf.
Another interesting thing about dogs is that breeds with shorter
snouts, like the bulldog, tend to have shorter lifespan than dogs
with 'wolf-like' faces.
This is largely because breeds like the
bulldogs have been 'inbred' within a fairly small gene pool, and the
result of that is a greater risk of genetic diseases and problems.
This is not true of every breed (some 'wolf-like' dogs have short
lifespan too) but it's a general rule of thumb.
The dog's tail is one of the most important parts of its anatomy.
Dogs use their tails for a kind of 'sign language' – they
communicate a lot about what is going on inside their heads, through
what they do with their tails. A loose, wagging tail usually
indicates excitement. A limp tail hung between the legs can be a
sign of fear or anxiety (dogs often do this when their owners give
them a telling off for going to the toilet inside).
Here's a fascinating fact about dog anatomy: unlike a human, a dog's
shoulder blades aren't actually joined up to the rest of the
skeleton. This allows dogs to more be flexible and run faster as a
result.
While many common dog health problems relate to joints, a few are
created by the habits of their owners.
For example, obesity is
becoming quite a problem for dogs these days as their owners feed
them too much. Obesity can lead to all sorts of health problems,
including diabetes. There's no 'ideal weight' for all dogs since
there's a huge difference in size between breeds, but every breed
has an ideal weight range. You should find out what the ideal weight
range is for your dog and weight her to make sure she fits in (or
isn't too far to either side).
If she's overweight, a diet change
and more exercise are in order. Underfeeding is also a big problem –
as a general rule of thumb, if you can see your dog's ribs she
probably isn't getting enough food (although some breeds, like
greyhounds, tend to be naturally lean even when they're at a healthy
weight).
But the most fascinating facts about dog anatomy surround the dog's
senses – in particular its amazing hearing and sense of smell.
Dogs
'see' the world a lot differently from human beings.
Let's take a look at dog senses now.
It's a fairly well-known fact that dogs' eyesight is worse than
humans, but many people falsely believe dogs only see in black and
white.
There are some colors of the color spectrum dogs can't see, but they can see a few – mostly blue and yellow.
Dogs can focus
their eyes as well as humans can, but they can generally see
movement better than we can.
This is why 'sight hounds' are useful
for hunting animals like rabbits, that move quickly – but it also
explains why a dog often won't see a cat that's sitting perfectly
still.
It also explains why a dog can often hear something nearby without actually being able to see it.
The dog's sense of smell is its strongest, along with hearing.
In fact, scientists have discovered that dogs in general have about 44 times as many cells dedicated to picking up smells compared to humans. Most of the 'scent hounds' – dogs used for hunting by smell – have even more smelling cells than this.
But just the number of cells dedicated to picking up smell doesn't do the dog's sense of smell justice – difference between dog brains and human brains when it comes to processing smells has led some scientists to believe that the dog's sense of smell with a full stomach is 800.000 better than ours, and on an empty stomach may actually be up to 2,4 million times stronger than ours.
Now you know why your dog is so interested in sniffing everything you come across when you go for a walk!
The dog's nose has a vacuum effect!
The dog breath in through the
two nostrils and blow out through the slit in the nose. As the dog
keeps it's nose close to the ground, this creates a vacuum effect
that gives the maximum scent.
A dog will always go for the strongest source of the smell, which makes the dog follow the trail to the wounded animal.
Dogs can distinguish between more than 2000 different smells at the same time, while humans can distinguish between op to 24 smells at the same time.
The god's sense of smell is affected by stress, compulsion and jerking of the collar, which means that you cannot work with these factors present when working with tracking.
Dogs don't rely on their sense of touch as much as hearing and smell, but it's still important.
In the wild, dogs sleep bundled up
together with the rest of their pack – this is partly for keeping
warm, but it's likely that they also enjoy the touch of other dogs.
This is why dogs enjoy being stroked and petted by humans.
Anybody who has ever tried to change their pet dog's food and found
Fido suddenly refuses to eat knows dogs have a sense of taste –
although they don't tend to be as picky with their food at most
humans!
Dogs can certainly recognize some flavors, although it's doubtful that their sense of taste is as complex as ours.
They only
have about 1700 taste buds on average, compared to about 9000 in
humans.
But they are capable of knowing whether something is salty
or sweet, for example.
Anyone who has ever seen the effects of a 'dog whistle' – a whistle
so high-pitched that dogs can hear it but humans can't – understands
that dogs are living in a bit of a different world when it comes to
the sounds they hear.
Often dog owners wonder why their dog will
start behaving strangely for no reason or 'barking at nothing' –
this is why.
They can hear things we're completely unaware of. Not
only can they hear frequencies they can't, but their ears are just a
lot more sensitive so they can hear things that are too quiet for
our ears to pick up.
On top of this, they have muscles in their ears which they can control to point each ear in different directions, allow them to more easily pick up sounds all around them.
------------------------
As you can see from all this, even though you and your dog are experiencing the same world every day you experience it in very different ways.
Hopefully this will help you understand why dogs sometimes act in unusual ways. But to really understand why dogs do what they do, we need to take a closer look at dog behavior.
First of all, let's discuss how wolves and dogs act in the wild.
This is important because much of the way a dog behaves is based on instinct, and instincts don't change much over tens of thousands of years. By looking at how dogs act in the wild, you can understand why they do certain things in a home setting that seem unusual.
First – dogs are pack animals.
They are used to living in groups.
They eat and sleep together in groups.
People who come up against
behavior problems like 'behavior anxiety' often don't understand
this. They can't understand why their dog gets so stressed out about
being left alone.
It's because for a dog in the wild, being alone is
dangerous! The pack is a dog's source of protection from other
animals, its 'team' to catch food with, and its source of warmth in
cold weather. Of course dogs don't like being alone!
Every pack has a hierarchy – a structure which lets each dog know
who's the boss and who are the followers.
In dog training, it's
important for humans to avoid letting the dog think he's the pack
leader. This leads to all kinds of behavior problems, because a dog
who believes he's the pack leader will literally do whatever he
wants.
Dogs are also 'den dwelling' animals, meaning they tend to live in
caves or some other type of sheltered area.
They are territorial –
they have their den and their surrounding hunting ground. The den is
the place for sleeping and eating, so they know not to go to the
toilet there. (Important information for puppy owners trying to
figure out how to potty train their new family member!)
Okay, so those are some facts about dogs in the wild – but what
about how domestic dogs behave? After all, the habits of wild dogs
can explain a few things about how pet dogs act, but not everything.
A lot of the behavior of a house dog or working dog has to do with
the specific breed, and what it was bred for.
Breeds aren't accidental.
Every breed of dog you see was bred to do
something in particular.
The Irish wolfhound, for example, were bred
to hunt wolves.
Jack Russell terriers and fox terriers were bred for
fox hunting.
Golden retrievers were bred to retrieve dead animals
shot by hunters.
All these dogs have their own unique behaviors that reflect their breeding. For example, golden retrievers like to chase balls and play fetch, but a Jack Russell might prefer digging holes in the ground.
Learning about a particular dog breed's background will help you understand why a dog acts the way it does
Giant George, mentioned above, is the world's largest dog according
to the Guinness Book of World Records. I said above that George
stands at about 43 inches tall – but what I didn't mention was that
he measures about 7 feet long from nose to tail (about 2.1 meters).
That's the height of many NBA basketball players.
There was a photo floating around the Internet claiming to be of 'Hercules, the world's largest dog.' The photo showed a dog which was almost as large as a horse – but of course, the photo turned out to be fake. George is still the official champion in the biggest dog stakes.
George is a Great Dane. The other dog breed that rivals the Great Dane is the Irish Wolfhound. These dogs are usually around 30 inches (about 76 centimeters) high and weigh in at about 121 to 143 pounds (55-65 kg).
There are over 400 breeds of dog in the world today.
I won't give you a full list here, but let's take a look at the 'groups' the dog breeds are divided into. These groupings help make it easier to understand what different breeds were developed for and why a beagle behaves differently from a chihuahua.
The groups are, according to the AKC: Toy, Sporting, Non-Sporting, Hound, Working, Herding and Terrier.
The Dalmatian, which has become so popular largely thanks to the
story of 101 Dalmatians, has quite a strange origin.
This is one of
the 'non-sporting' group dogs. They were bred as guard dogs, but
they had a very specific job to do: they would clear the way for a
fire department cart (back when fire departments used horse-drawn
carts!) and then guard the cart while it was unattended.
This
strange story of origin is why the Dalmatian is still closely
associated with the fire department even to this day.
Above I mentioned the American Hairless Terrier – the dog with no
coat.
It may come as a surprise to you to learn there are actually
also 'coated American Hairless Terriers' – versions which do have
hair! It seems a little strange, but this is the way the American
Kennel Club has decided to classify these dogs.
Hopefully a better
name will be thought of some time in the near future!
'The Dog Whisperer' is the name of a famous dog trainer, Cesar Millan, and the title of his TV show. Millan is well-known for his 'tough love' approach to dog training.
Although he has taken a lot of criticism, Millan has done a lot of good introducing dog training techniques into the homes of millions of people who would otherwise be struggling with their out of control pets.
The famous line 'Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war,' from
Shakespeare's play Julius Caeser, was actually about human soldiers,
not dogs.
But dogs have been used in warfare for many centuries,
stretching back to Roman times and before. When we think of historic
battles, horses are usually the animals that spring to mind, but
dogs have played equally important roles in winning important fights
throughout history.
They aren't used only as attack dogs, however.
Dogs these days still
play big roles in the military and police forces of many countries.
Dogs with great senses of smell, like the beagle, are used in
airports for their ability to sniff out bombs and drugs in luggage.
Dogs are still used by the US military to this day.
The nickname 'man's best friend' has been around for centuries.
But
modern science has allowed us to figure out exactly what effects
having a dog around can have on people.
Studies have found that
there's is a real and measurable effect on human happiness that
comes from having a friendship with a dog. In fact, 'pet therapy' is
now a common prescription for many people suffering from mental
disorders.
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