Since dogs and people became friends, we have been together with them for hundreds of years, and they treat us much better than we treat them. How much do we know about our four-legged friends? We think enough to know who we are dealing with, but there are also many interesting facts about dogs that we did not know. Some of these facts are related to the lives of specific dogs, while others are about the entire canine genus as a whole. We invite you to get to know your favorite dogs better by reading 20 interesting facts about them.
Stray dogs in Russia have figured out how to use the metro system to travel to more populated areas in search of food
Dogs do not like to be hugged, just as humans and primates love to do so. Limbs on top of the body mean dominance to them and they don’t really like this feeling
Two stray dogs in Afghanistan saved 50 American soldiers. A Facebook community has raised $21,000 to bring the dogs back to the US and reunite them with soldiers.
In the song "A day in the Life" by The Beatles, at one point there is a sound of a whistle that only dogs can hear. It was recorded by Paul McCartney for his beloved Sheltie dog.
This sweet dog, named Nesbit, has flown over a million miles with Delta in his lifetime and even has his own pilot card.
Former fighting dog Leo, participates in a program to visit seriously ill and disabled children
Service dogs are trained to recognize that they are on duty. And when the service comes to an end, they immediately become playful and energetic
The famous golf champion Tiger Woods stuttered as a child and learned to speak without hesitation by practicing on his dog until it fell asleep in the hope of getting rid of his conversations.
Guide dogs pee and poop on command so that the owner is ready and able to clean up after their dog. Guide dogs also pee without raising their paw
China's last line of defense was a Pekingese dog hidden up its sleeve.
When Lord Byron learned that his dog was not allowed to go with him to Trinity College, Cambridge, he retaliated by having the bear go instead of the dog.
In 1860s San Francisco, two stray dogs were best friends and became local celebrities. Their exploits were noted in local newspapers, and they had immunity granted by the city, which prohibited dog catchers from catching them.
House in the shape of a dog in New Zealand
This dog Nakio lost all his limbs due to frostbite and now runs on four prosthetics.
Moisture in the dog's nose plays a role important. It is thanks to humidity that she understands from which direction the smell is coming.
Hyenas, although similar to dogs, are more closely related to cats.
Spiked dog collars were invented by the ancient Greeks and were originally designed to protect dogs' throats from wolf attacks.
Bucks is a blind boxer who has a guide goose named Buttons. Buttons, a 4-year-old goose, takes Bucks everywhere and shows him where he needs to go.
There is such a thing as "Frito Feet", which describes dog paws that smell like corn chips. Dogs' paws are constantly in contact with the ground and a lot of all kinds of microorganisms grow on their paws; after the dogs' paws sweat, cooling through the pads, they can acquire various flavors: nuts, popcorn, corn chips
This is how dogs drink water by cupping the bottom of their tongue.
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The world is divided into two categories - dog lovers and cat lovers. We have already written about it. Reader website and a big dog lover, Anya Nguyen, calculated that dogs are one fact cooler than cats, and sent us 50 and 1 reasons to love dogs more.
- Dogs understand up to 250 words and gestures, count to five and can solve simple math problems. Intellectually they are at the level of two-year-old children.
- In Russia, dogs were able to adapt the metro to their needs: they learned to ride public transport in search of food, traveling through the most populated areas.
- Dogs don't like hugs! For them, this is a sign of dominance. So finally stop doing this!
- Dogs can distinguish ultrasonic whistles. Paul McCartney, knowing this, recorded this sound at the end of the song "A Day in the Life" especially for his Scottish Sheepdog.
- IN ancient China The emperor's last line of defense was a small Pekingese dog: it hid in his sleeve and, in case of danger, jumped out and rushed at the enemy.
- When Lord Byron learned that his dog was not allowed into Trinity College (Cambridge), where he studied, he brought a bear cub instead.
- The dog needs a wet nose to determine the direction of the smell.
- Spike collars were invented in ancient Greece to protect dogs' necks from wolf attacks.
- If your dog smells like chips, this does not mean that he ate your stash, do not rush to scold him. There's a phenomenon called "Frito Feet" where bacteria buildup on paws can cause them to smell like corn chips. The reason is non-compliance with hygiene rules after a walk.
Banks the dog and Buttons the goose.
- A boxer dog named Banks and a goose named Buttons became friends after the dog was involved in an accident and went blind. The goose helped him get to his feet, becoming his guide. Buttons guides his friend with his neck and screams and does not leave him alone for a moment.
- In fact, dogs drink by curling their tongue into a spoon shape, not up, but down, away from the roof of their mouth.
- Puppies have 28 teeth, and adult dogs have 42.
- The heart of a large dog, like that of a person, by the way, in a calm state beats from 60 to 100 beats per minute, in small ones - 100-140.
- 72% of dog owners believe their dogs can predict storms. Their excellent hearing helps them predict the weather: 10 times more acute than that of humans.
- Dogs have three pairs of eyelids: an upper, lower, and a nictitating membrane that lubricates and protects the eye.
- Dogs have 1,700 taste buds. For comparison, a person has 9,000.
- A dog can smell 10,000 to 100,000 times better than a human. Keep your treats in a safe place.
- Speaking of treats, chocolate is dangerous for dogs. It contains theobromine, which affects the central nervous system and the dog's heart muscle. In the human body, this substance is broken down by enzymes.
- Remember, in the dog’s opinion, you are the leader of the pack. By at least, That is how it should be.
- Dogs instinctively require the approval of the leader before any action.
Best friends Zoey and Jasper.
- Dogs, like people, can hiccup when they eat or drink too quickly.
- Like human babies, Chihuahuas are born with a soft spot - the fontanel - on the top of the skull, which hardens as they age.
- “They always come out of the water unscathed” - these words can fully be attributed to Newfoundland dogs, which do not get wet in the water, and thanks to their webbed feet, are excellent swimmers.
- The fastest dog is a greyhound named Star Title. Its maximum speed is 67.32 km/h. The record has not been broken since 1994.
- Obesity is, unfortunately, the number 1 health problem in dogs.
- There are 703 purebred dog breeds in total.
- Dogs judge objects first by their movement, then by their brightness, and finally by their shape.
- Rin Tin Tin was the first dog "Hollywood star", and like all celebrities, he signed all of his 22 film contracts himself - with his paw signet.
- How longer nose dogs, the more effective it is internal system cooling.
- US Customs in 1988 had dogs named Rocky and Barco who were so good at patrolling the Texas-Mexico border, also known as “Cocaine Alley,” that Mexican drug lords put a $30,000 bounty on their heads.
- 45% of dogs sleep on their owners' beds.
- Boxer dogs are so named because of the way they play with their front paws.
- Chihuahua dogs are named after the state of Chihuahua in Mexico, where they were discovered.
- Puppies begin to see normally only after 1 month.
- Lundehund dogs have 6 toes on each paw.
- Dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible.
- Three dogs survived the sinking of the Titanic - a Newfoundland, a Pomeranian and a Pekingese. Of course they were in first grade.
- The dog was first cloned by South Korean scientist Hwang Woseok in 2005. Today this procedure costs $100,000.
- The most venerable dog, a terrier named Max, turned 30 years old in August 2013. By human standards, that's 210 years!
- “Attention, alarm” - the analogue of this signal in dogs is the wagging of the tail to the left (relative to the four-legged animal).
- Dogs have learned to drive a car. The New Zealand Society for the Protection of Animal Rights conducted an experiment, as a result of which three dogs learned to drive in a straight line in a car and even turn.
- The height of the tallest dog of the Great Dane breed, standing on its hind legs, is 2.20 meters.
Large dogs have a hard time settling into the house.
- But the smallest dog is a Chihuahua named Heaven Sent Brandy. She weighs 900 grams and is as tall as a Coca-Cola can.
- The first animal rights law was passed in Japan in the 17th and 18th centuries. According to it, killing dogs was punishable by execution, and townspeople had to address stray dogs as “High Nobility Dog.”
- The Canary Islands are named after dogs (from the Latin "canis"), which were deified by the locals. And the “canary” birds are in honor of these islands.
- According to the code of laws of the 14th century “Metropolitan Justice”, in Ancient Rus' a dog was valued as one ox, 3 horses or a herd of sheep.
- Dogs are direct descendants of wolves.
- The predatory nature of a dog determines its nutrition - it should be as biologically appropriate as possible, that is, like wolves: more animal protein, less carbohydrates.
- We all know the "@" sign as a dog, but in other countries it is snail, monkey, strudel (in Hebrew), pickled herring (in Czech and Slovak) and moon ear (in Kazakh).
- When the dog Laika was sent into space in the USSR, it was known that she would die. This attitude towards animals outraged the housewives of the state of Mississippi, and they wrote a proposal to the UN: if for the development of science it is necessary to send living creatures into space, in our city there are as many black children as possible for this purpose.
- 66% - this is how dog owners move more than other people.
Smile and wave.
1. Every dog on earth probably descended from a species called Tomarctus, creatures that roamed the earth over 15 million years ago.
2. Dogs do not have an appendix.
3. The African wolf, a dog known as the Basenji, is the only dog in the world that cannot bark.
4. Dachshunds were originally bred to catch badgers in burrows.
5. A dog's sense of smell is more than 100,000 times more sensitive than a human's, which they need because their vision is not as strong as humans.
6. Chihuahuas were named after the state in Mexico where they were discovered.
7. Like human children, Chihuahuas are born with a soft spot in their skull that closes as they age.
8. It is a myth that dogs are color blind. They can actually see in color, just not as brightly as humans. Their vision is akin to our vision at dusk.
9. Lundehund dogs have 6 toes and can close their ears.
10. In the Middle Ages, Great Danes and Mastiffs were often dressed in armor and equipped with spiked collars to fight in battle or protect caravans.
11. Small amounts of grapes and raisins can lead to kidney failure. Chocolate, nuts, onions, or anything with caffeine can also be harmful to your dog.
12. Dogs have three eyelids. The third eyelid is called the nictitating membrane, which protects the eyes.
13. “The rain of cats and dogs” - literally translated as “Rain of cats and dogs”, and literary - “Rain pours like buckets”, the phrase originated in the seventeenth century in England. During heavy rainfalls, many stray animals drowned and floated through the streets, making it appear as if it was actually raining cats and dogs.
14. The Pekingese and Japanese Chin were so important in the ancient Far East that they had their own servants, these dogs were brought as gifts for kings and emperors. The Pekingese was even worshiped in temples in China for centuries.
15. The shape of a dog's face tells how long it will live. Dogs with sharp, pointy faces that look more like wolves tend to live longer. Dogs with very flat sides, such as bulldogs, often have more short term life.
16. After the fall of Rome, human survival often became more important than breeding and training dogs. Werewolf legends arose during this time, when abandoned dogs ran wild, roamed the streets and often frightened and terrified villagers.
17. Those born under the sign of the dog in Chinese astrology are considered loyal, reserved, and a bit temperamental.
18. It is illegal to have a dog as a pet in Iran. However, if the owner can prove that the dog is a guard dog or a hunting dog, this restriction does not apply. This may be due to the fact that rabies has always been common in the Middle East, which was mainly carried by stray dogs.
19. The Mayans and Aztecs dedicated every tenth day of the calendar to a dog, and those born under this sign were considered to have innate leadership abilities.
20. The ancient Indians of the Gran Chaco in South America believed that people originally lived underground until dogs dug them up.
21. The dog's shoulder blades are not connected to the rest of the skeleton, allowing the dog greater flexibility and mobility when running.
22. Laika, a Russian mongrel, was the first mammal to orbit the Earth, in spaceship Soviet satellite, in 1957. Although she died in space, her daughter Pushinka gave birth to four puppies from a terrier named Charlie owned by President John F. Kennedy.
23. Dalmatians are completely white at birth. The spots appear as the dog grows older.
24. Followers of Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion, included their holy books called “Zend Avesta” a section that was devoted to keeping dogs and breeding new breeds.
25. Alexander the Great founded and named the city Peritus, in memory of his dog.
26. In Egypt, a person bitten by a rabid dog was offered to eat its fried liver to avoid developing the disease. For the same purpose, a tooth of a rabid dog was tied to the site of the bite.
27. Touch is the first sense that a dog develops (all puppies are born blind and deaf). The dog's entire body, including the pads of its paws, is riddled with nerve endings that are sensitive to touch.
28.V Ancient Greece, kennels of dogs were kept in the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus. Dogs were often sacrificed there. During the 25 July celebration of Kounophontis, known as the "Dog Massacre", dog sacrifices were performed to appease Apollo's son, Linos, who was devouring dogs.
29. The earliest European images of dogs are found in cave paintings made about 12,000 years ago.
30. At the end of World War I, the German government trained the first guide dogs for blinded soldiers.
31. More than eighteen muscles move a dog's ear.
32. In 2003, Dr. Roger Mugford invented the "vagometer", a device that Roger says can accurately interpret a dog's mood through changes in tail wagging.
33. Thirty percent of all Dalmatians are deaf in one or both ears.
34. Because Bulldogs have extremely short muzzles, many spend their lives struggling with choking.
35. Because Chihuahuas have small skulls, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid may be restricted, resulting in hydrocephalus, a brain tumor.
36. A lost dachshund was found swallowed whole in the stomach of a giant catfish in Berlin in July 2003.
37. In Croatia, scientists discovered that lampposts fall more often because a chemical in the urine of male dogs rots the metal.
38. Different smells in a dog's urine can tell another dog whether it is female or male, young or old, sick or healthy, happy or angry.
39. Some dogs can smell dead bodies underwater.
40. Dogs can detect lung cancer that is still too small; to do this, doctors let the dog smell a person’s breath.
41. Dogs can smell about 1000 times better than humans. While humans have 5 million cells to detect smell, dogs have more than 220 million. The part of the brain that interprets smells is also four times larger in dogs than in humans.
42. Dogs were often depicted in ancient Greek art, including Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to King Hades' dungeon, and hunting dogs always accompanied the goddess and patroness of hunters, Diana.
43. Dog nose prints are as unique as human fingerprints and can be used to identify them.
44. The Chinese Crested Dog often gets sick from interrupted breathing.
45. There are about 400 million dogs in the world.
46. A dog can find the source of a sound in 1/600 of a second and can hear sounds four times further than a human.
47. Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travelers; in early Christianity he was sometimes depicted with the head of a dog.
48. Dogs have lived with people for more than 14,000 years.
49. Dogs recognize voice commands much easier when given in combination with gestures.
50. Chocolate contains the bitter alkaloid theobromine (xantheosis) - this ingredient is poorly tolerated by dogs, so chocolate can be fatal for them.
Have you ever wondered what your dog is thinking? What would she say if she could talk? Being a dog owner is great, but it's quite annoying when your best friend can't talk to you. Without knowing it, dogs exhibit personality traits that are different from humans, besides the obvious ones like licking themselves.
Anyone who has ever owned a dog can tell you that the bond between a dog and its owner is special and incomparable. There is a reason why dogs are called man's best friend - the bond between man and dog is beautiful and unfathomable. Your dog can sense your mood, in sadness and in joy, your furry friend will always be with you.
Most best friends know everything about each other. While your dog knows everything about you, you definitely don't know much about him. There are many myths surrounding what dogs see, what they sense, and who they are. Although every dog is different, the following ten points will tell you what your dog has been dreaming of telling you all these years.
Dogs are the best pets one could wish for and they are also the best companions. If you love your dog, be sure to read this article as it will help you bond even more with your dog. best friend and learn interesting facts about him.
10. They can smell and feel a storm coming.
Have you ever noticed your dog acting strange for no reason, and then a few hours later a thunderstorm starts? This happens because dogs sense weather changes before humans can sense them. Thanks to their excellent hearing, dogs can hear higher and lower frequencies. They hear peals of thunder that the human ear cannot hear. Dogs not only hear better than humans, they also have a more acute sense of smell. A dog's nose is so sensitive that it can detect odors much faster than the human nose. Dogs in general are more sensitive to changes in barometric pressure. Next time you notice your dog acting strange, close the windows because there's going to be a thunderstorm outside soon!
9. They are born blind, deaf and toothless 
Puppies are born completely helpless. They are blind, deaf, toothless and simply adorable. In the first week of their lives, puppies spend 90 percent of their time sleeping and the remaining 10 percent eating. Unable to walk, puppies begin their lives crawling. Their eyes, closed at birth, open when they are approximately two weeks old. Opening their eyes, they begin to explore the world. Puppies' ears also begin to function at approximately two weeks. By three weeks they can hear well. The puppy depends on its mother for the first few weeks of its life. They rely on their mother for food, comfort, and learning basic rules of behavior. This is why when you get a puppy, you need to wait a certain period of time after it is born so that it is ready for you to take home.
8. Dog nose prints are equivalent to human fingerprints. 
Just as fingerprints can be used to establish a person's identity, noseprints can be used to establish an individual's identity. A dog's nose print is as unique as our fingerprints. If you look closely at a dog's nose, you can see lines forming patterns, just like our fingerprints. Previously, the generally accepted way to identify a dog was to take their paw prints, but this method has fallen into oblivion because it is not as accurate as their nose print. All breeders and animal trainers are required to have nose prints of their dogs in case they are ever required to be identified or insured.
7. Male dogs raise their hind legs as a gesture of dominance. 
It is not at all surprising that male dogs want to demonstrate their dominance. Many people know that dogs mark new places with urine to mark their territory. Raising the back leg to urinate allows the dog to leave his urine higher off the ground than usual. This will allow the scent to stay in the area longer as some dogs may not be able to reach the same level, and it will also remove marks left by other males. Dogs leave their scent on things in layers. The smell of yourself dominant dog remains on its own high level, while less dominant males may leave their scent only at a lower level. The smaller the male, the less dominance he has in the chain of marks.
6. The center of a dog’s brain responsible for smell is 40 times larger than ours. 
A dog relies on its sense of smell to interpret the world around it, just as humans rely on vision. Although it's hard to imagine, your dog interprets just as much information in a day as you do. When you see a dog sniffing something, it is the equivalent of a person looking around his surroundings. Dogs do this in order to understand and become familiar with their surroundings, so they sniff less at everything in their home than when they are taken to a new and unfamiliar place. A dog's brain is wired to detect smells. The percentage of a dog's brain devoted to smell analysis is 40 times higher than that of a human!
5. Dogs dream just like people.
Anyone who has ever had a dog has noticed how it twitches and squints in its sleep. Dogs dream and their dreams are actually very similar to ours. The size of a dog can also determine how long it sleeps. Larger dog species dream only once every 45-60 minutes, but their dreams last 5-10 minutes. Small breeds dream every 10 minutes, but their dreams last only a minute. Puppies and older dogs dream more often than middle-aged dogs. The amount of sleep a dog needs to rest depends on its activity during the day. Even though they spend most of their time sleeping, dogs are easier to wake up than humans. Dogs can have a variety of dreams, including bad and good ones. If your dog is having a nightmare, don't panic. When they wake up, they may feel disoriented, but soon realize that what they were imagining was a dream.
4. A wagging tail also has its own tongue. 
People often have the misconception that a wagging tail means the dog is happy or looking forward to something. While tail wagging does mean these things, it can also be a sign that the dog is scared or insecure. Like any other language, tail wagging has its own grammar and lexicon which needs to be understood. When a dog wags its tail, there are many details to pay attention to: which way it wags its tail, what position the tail is in, and how fast it wags it. When your dog wags its tail, you have a lot to think about, so pay more attention to it, as tail wagging is a dog's way of communicating.
3. Dogs sweat differently than we do.
Dogs sweat, but they sweat in different places than we do. Dogs primarily sweat through the pads of their paws. Their skin and axillary region do not contain sweat glands, like in humans. Dogs get rid of excess heat by rapid breathing, so many people think that they sweat through their mouth, but this is not true. Dogs sweat during physical activity, just like people. However, some dogs require more attention in this matter than others. For example, bulldogs and pugs have very difficult breathing. more susceptible high risk overheat because they have trouble breathing. Since dogs don't have this large quantity sweat glands like humans, they cannot sweat like us. However, it is very important to choose the right one for your dog. physical activity so that she can breathe properly.
2. Body language is much more effective than words. 
Many of us talk to our dogs as if they were people. This is a very widespread phenomenon. Some people find it a little strange that dog owners talk to them the way they would talk to their children. As humans, we love to talk, so we talk to our pets, who, unfortunately, for the most part do not understand what we say. Although they understand individual words such as “cookie,” “walk,” or “sit,” they have difficulty understanding the full scope of verbal communication. Dogs notice your body language much better than they understand what you say to them. Telling your dog to stay where he is, leaning forward towards him, is a guarantee that he will understand you better.
1. Dogs need order and rules.
Dogs are just like children: they need order and rules. Dogs need to know who the pack leader is and if you don't take on that role, your dog will never listen to you. As we mentioned earlier, dogs are like children, without order and rules they run wild and this is not at all good. Sometimes it's very difficult to yell at your little furry friend, but they need discipline. If you are trying to train your dog, remember that you should not make any exceptions to the rules. If they're usually allowed to jump on you, they won't understand why you suddenly don't allow them to when you're in costume. Dogs can be taught dos and don'ts and it is up to you to draw the lines so that they understand this. You must become the leader of the pack in your home.
The smallest dog in the world is a Yorkshire terrier named Sylvia, which was approximately the size of Matchbox. It measures 6.3 centimeters in height and 8.8 centimeters from tip of nose to tip of tail, and weighs only 113 grams.
The largest dog in the world was the English mastiff Aikama, named Zorba. The height of the mastiff at the withers was 94 cm, and he weighed about 156 kg!
The most tall dog in the world - a Great Dane named Gibson. Its height is vertical position– 2 meters 10 cm.
The oldest dog was an Australian Cattle Dog named Bluey, who lived to be 29 years and 5 months. By human standards, this corresponds to an age of over 160 years.
The oldest dog in the world celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2013.
The Laika, a stray Russian dog, was the first mammal and animal to orbit the Earth, in the Soviet Sputnik spacecraft in 1957. Although she died in space, her daughter, Pushinka, produced four puppies from President John F. Kennedy's favorite terrier, Charlie.
The dog, named Laika, was sent into space flight, knowing in advance that it would be doomed to death. After this, the UN committee received an angry letter from women from Mississippi. Its content contained a demand to condemn the inhumane treatment of dogs in the Soviet Union and put forward another proposal: if for the sake of science it is necessary to send living beings into space, then in our city there are as many black children as possible for this purpose.
History of dogs
The origins of dogs can be traced back to 40 million years ago, when their ancestors were weasel-type animals called Miacis that lived in trees and caves. Later Miacida gradually evolved into Tomarctus, which is the direct ancestor of the genus Canis, which includes the wolf, jackal, and dogs.
The oldest dog bones were found in Asia and date back to 10,000 BC. e. The first identifiable dog breed appeared around 9000 BC. e. It was a type of greyhound that was used exclusively for hunting. The Greyhound is considered the oldest dog breed. "Greyhound" comes from an error in the translation of the early German word "Greishund", which means old or ancient dog, not because it is gray in color.
The first dogs were domesticated wolves, which, about 12,000 years ago, began to visit the first sites of permanent human habitation. It is images of dogs that scientists encounter in rock paintings that appeared 12,000 years ago in Spain.
The first fossil dogs were found in Asia, and date back to the tenth millennium BC.
The ancient Egyptians greatly revered their domestic dogs. When a dog died, its eyebrows were shaved off, its hair was smeared with mud, and they cried loudly for several days.
The population of Ancient Egypt idolized not only their dogs, but also their dogs. When a dog died, its owner experienced great sorrow. He shaved off his eyebrows, smeared mud on his face and cried for days on end.
Historians believe that beliefs about werewolves appeared after the collapse of the Roman Empire. In those years, near the destroyed Roman villages, whole hordes of hungry, wild dogs wandered.
In many ancient Indian cultures, the dog was considered almost a divine animal.
In Ancient Greece, kennels of dogs were kept at the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus. Dogs were often sacrificed because there were so many of them. During the July 25 celebration of Kounophontis, known as the "Dog Massacre", dog sacrifices were performed to appease Apollo's son, Linos, who was killed by dogs.
Spiked collars were first invented in Ancient Greece. They were intended to protect dogs from wolves.
The term "canine" summer days" was coined by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and was used to describe the hottest days of summer, which coincided with the rising of the Dog Star, Sirius.
The dog was often depicted in ancient Greek art, as Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the entrance to the underworld, and as the hunting dogs that always accompanied the goddess of the hunt, Diana.
Alexander the Great founded and named the city Peritas in memory of his beloved dog, who saved him from imminent death. Historians ancient world They say that during the battle of Gaugamela, Alexander the Great was chased by a war elephant, and the commander was almost trampled. However, at the last moment, a dog named Peritas attacked the elephant, tightly clinging his teeth to his lower lip and hung on her. Thus, he distracted the elephant from pursuit and gave the great commander the opportunity to retreat. The dog himself was unlucky. After the battle with the Persians, the Macedonians found the dog's body and gave him a solemn funeral. And after some time, Alexander founded a city in his honor.
Dog handlers were held in high esteem in ancient China. The Chinese have achieved particular success in miniaturizing large dogs.
The ancient religion, Zoroastrianism, has a special section in its religious texts, called the Zend Avesta, dedicated to the care and raising of dogs.
In the Middle Ages, Great Danes and Mastiffs were sometimes equipped with armor and spiked collars for fighting or protecting the provisions of caravans.
During the Renaissance, portraits of dogs, as a symbol of loyalty and devotion, were used in mythological and religious art throughout Europe, including in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Diego Velazquez, Jan Van Eyck and Albrecht Dürer.
Dog behavior
Dogs, like their ancestors - wolves, love to howl at the moon.
Don't look an unfamiliar dog in the eye! They perceive this gesture as aggression on your part.
When frightened, the dog tucks its tail. In this way, it hides the odor produced by the inguinal glands. This smell is responsible for “personal identification” in dogs.
One of the theories why dogs chase their tails says that they do this in order to quickly trample the grass under their feet - trampled grass makes an excellent bed.
Dogs, like people, can experience feelings of love and jealousy.
Dogs don't tend to feel guilty, but your anger may upset them.
Dog Health and Physiology
Dogs have three eyelids. Inferior, superior and nictitating membrane. The third eyelid is called the nictitating membrane or "hawthorn" and helps keep the eyes lubricated and protected from sand and dust.
IN small quantities Grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure in dogs. Chocolate, cooked onions, or anything with caffeine can also be harmful. Apple and pear seeds contain arsenic, which can be fatal to dogs.
Dogs do not sweat, but dogs have sweat glands between their paws.
A wet nose helps a dog determine the direction of the wind.
Many scientists believe that dogs' intelligence is at about the same level as that of a two-year-old child. Dogs can count up to 5, understand up to 250 commands (words and gestures) and solve some simple arithmetic problems.
Puppies have twenty-eight teeth, and adult dogs have forty-two.
Normal body temperature in dogs: 37.5 – 39 degrees Celsius. Heart rate – 60-120 beats per minute.
Dogs should not eat chocolate - this product is very toxic for them.
The fastest recorded speed a dog has ever achieved is 67.32 km/h. This record belongs to a greyhound named Star Title.
Dogs have 3 pairs of eyelids: lower, upper
Dogs, like people, can get hiccups if they eat or drink too quickly.
The main problem in dogs is obesity.
The longer a dog's nose, the better its internal cooling system works. In addition, it is believed that dogs with elongated muzzles live much longer than their relatives who are unlucky with this long muzzle.
Dog cubs begin to see normally after about a month from the moment of their birth.
A dog's nose is 1000 times more sensitive than a human's.
It takes 18 different types of muscles to move a dog's ear.
Humans are superior to dogs in terms of the number of taste buds. If we have about 9,000 of them, then our four-legged friends have only 1,700 of them.
Puppies are sometimes rejected by their dog mothers if they are born by Caesarean.
Dogs can distinguish between yellow and Blue colour. But they often confuse red and green.
A recent study by German scientists showed that dogs can smell certain forms of cancer in humans.
Dogs can predict thunderstorms. The thing is that their hearing is 10 times sharper than human hearing, which means they can sense a storm long before it approaches.
Puppies are born blind, deaf and toothless.
A dog can detect a sound that lasts 1/600 of a second, and can hear a sound four times further than a human can.
Dogs have well developed sensory perception. The entire body, including the paws, is covered with sensory nerve endings.
Dog nose prints are as unique as human fingerprints and can be used for identification.
The shape of a dog's face determines how long it will live. Dogs with a pointed muzzle, those that look more like a wolf, tend to live longer. Dogs with very flat faces, such as bulldogs, have a shorter lifespan.
Dogs are capable of seeing the world in color, although they are more likely to see a color that is close to human skin color. They can see colors better in the dark.
Dogs with large, square heads and large ears, such as St. Bernards, are best able to detect infrasounds.
Dogs can detect odors approximately 1000 times better than... While humans have the ability to distinguish 5,000,000 different odors, dogs have the ability to distinguish over 220 million odors. The part of the brain that interprets smells is four times larger in dogs than in humans.
Some dogs can smell dead bodies underwater, where termites lurk, and natural gas beneath 40 feet of mud. They can even detect cancer even on early stage, which cannot be diagnosed by medicine and can find lung cancer through a person's breath.
Dogs have a wet nose because it helps them pick up more of the tiny droplets of smelly chemicals from the air.
Dogs love candy much more than... While cats have about 473 taste buds, dogs have 1,700 taste buds. People have about 9 thousand of them.
Dogs can have a fatal reaction to chocolate. Chocolate contains the bitter alkaloid theobromine, also known as xantheosis, and it is this active ingredient that dogs do not tolerate well.
A person standing 300 yards away is almost invisible to a dog. However, a dog can easily spot its owner standing a mile away if he waves his arms.
Different smells in dog urine can tell other dogs what gender the dog is, whether it is old or young, whether it is sick or healthy, whether it is happy or angry.
Male dogs lift their leg while urinating, aiming as high as possible at a tree or lamppost because they want to leave a message about how tall and strong they are. Some wild dogs in Africa even try to run up tree trunks to appear very large.
In Croatia, scientists discovered that lamp posts fall more often because Chemical substance contained in the urine of male dogs causes metal to rust faster.
Dogs are approximately as developed in intelligence as 2-3 summer child. This means that they can understand about 150-200 words, including signals and hand movements with the same meaning as words.
The dog can run at a speed of about 30 km/h. Greyhounds are the fastest dogs on Earth, capable of reaching speeds of up to 73 km/h.
Dog breeds
There are 703 breeds of purebred dogs in the world.
Contrary to popular belief, the French Poodle was actually bred in Germany. The French poodle originated not in France, but in Germany ("Poodle" comes from the German "pudelhund", which means "dog splashes"). Some scientists believed that the poodle's poufs began to develop when hunters shaved the dogs for faster swimming, leaving pom-poms around large joints to keep them warm.
The smartest dogs are border collies and poodles, while the least intelligent dogs are the Afghan hound and Basenji.
One type of Pekingese is called the "sleeve" because she was specially bred to fit into the sleeve of the Chinese Empress, who often carried her around.
In the Middle Ages, Great Danes and Mastiffs were often dressed in armor and used to guard trade caravans.
Dachshunds are hunting dogs. Their odd shape allows them to easily prey on badgers and foxes from their holes.
Pekingese and Japanese Chins were of great importance in the Ancient Far East, and they had their own servants and were carried along trade routes as gifts for kings and emperors. Pekingese have even been worshiped by Buddhists in temples in China for many centuries.
Dachshunds were bred to catch badgers in their dens.
The Basenji is the only dog breed that does not bark.
Labrador Retriever is the most popular breed dogs in Canada, USA and UK.
Beagles began to be bred between the 1300s and 1400s during the time of King Henry VII in England. Elizabeth I was very fond of pocket hounds, which were only 9 inches in height.
Most suitable dog for a date between two people is a golden retriever. The worst option is a pit bull.
Akita is one of the most difficult dog breeds that people keep as pets. Some insurance companies have even described it as the No. 1 bad dog and have even increased owners' costs on their life insurance.
Beagles and collies are the most curious dog breeds, while Akbash and Basenji dogs are the quietest and least sociable.
Dalmatians are born completely white. Spots appear only with age.
Thirty percent of all Dalmatians are deaf in one or both ears. Because Bulldogs have extremely short muzzles, many spend their lives struggling with choking. Because Chihuahuas have a small skull, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid may be restricted, resulting in hydrocephalus and cerebral edema.
The Chinese Crested Dog may experience frequent breathing problems.
In the Middle Ages, in the West, peasant dogs were required to wear blocks around their necks so as not to be able to mix with purebred noble hunting dogs. Purebred dogs were very expensive at that time, and hunting was very popular in the provinces.
Dogs and people
The genes of humans and dogs are 97% similar.
The ancient Mbaya Indians of the Gran Chaco in South America believed that people originally lived underground until dogs dug them out.
According to the dog, his owner is the leader of the pack, so do not forget to behave accordingly. Dogs instinctively demand approval of their actions from the leader of the pack.
Dogs don't like being hugged - they consider it a sign of dominance.
About 45% of pet dogs sleep on their owners' beds.
It is estimated that dog owners move twice as much as other people.
It is believed that communication with dogs is beneficial for hypertensive patients. Research shows that petting a dog lowers blood pressure.
Plato once said that “a dog has the soul of a philosopher.”
The son of the famous dog Strelka, one of the first dogs to travel into outer space, was named Pushinka and presented to the daughter of President Kennedy.
Many dogs work as rescue dogs. After the terrorist attack in New York on September 11, 2001, the first to go looking for survivors under the rubble of skyscrapers were specially trained dogs: German shepherds, Labradors and even dwarf dachshunds.
During the Second World War, specially trained dogs actively helped sappers in clearing mines. The dog, named Dzhulbars, managed to detect 7,468 mines and more than 150 shells during the 1945 war alone. For example, the sense of a tireless dog helped to clear the grave of Taras Shevchenko in Kanev and the Kiev Vladimir Cathedral.
For the successful completion of a combat mission, on March 21, 1945, Dzhulbars was awarded the medal “For Military Merit.” This the only case during the war, when the dog was awarded a military award.
Almost just before the Victory Parade in Moscow, the dog was injured and could not go on its own as part of the military dog school. Then, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin ordered the soldiers to carry Julbars on June 24, 1945 at the Parade along Red Square on a jacket taken from his own shoulder.
A worn Stalinist jacket without shoulder straps was delivered to the Central School. There the soldiers built something like a tray out of it. And at the Victory Parade, following the “box” of soldiers with MRS dogs, the commander of the 37th separate demining battalion, Major Alexander Mazover, walked in line, carrying fighting dog 14th assault engineer brigade.
There is a law in Iran that prohibits keeping dogs as pets. However, if the owner proves that he needs the dog as a watchman or guide, this ban is lifted. This kind of restraint towards dogs is common in many countries in the Middle East. This is due to the fact that here in medieval times a lot of people suffered from rabies, which was carried by dogs.
In 2003, Dr. Roger Mugford invented the "vagometer," a device that scientists claim can accurately interpret a dog's mood through changes in tail wagging.
The English phrase “raining cats and dogs” (translation “it’s pouring like buckets”) originated in the 17th century in England. During heavy rainfalls, many stray animals drowned and floated through the streets, making it appear as if it was actually raining cats and dogs.
The origin of dog tail amputation surgery is attributed to the Roman writer Lucius Columella (4-70 AD) who claimed that tail docking could prevent rabies.
President Franklin Roosevelt created a minor international incident when he announced that he had sent a destroyer to the Aleutian Islands only to pick up his Scottish terrier, Fal, which he had forgotten to take with him.
Hollywood's first and perhaps best canine superstar was Rin Tin Tin, five days old German Shepherd found, wounded in battle in World War I France and adopted by an American soldier, Lee Duncan. He signed his own contracts with his paw.
At the end of World War I, the German government began training guide dogs for soldiers who became blind after the war.
In Ancient Egypt, if a person was bitten by a rabid dog, it was recommended to eat the fried liver of a dog infected with rabies to avoid contracting the disease. A dog's tooth infected with rabies would also be placed in a group associated with the hand of the person bitten. A bitch's menstrual blood was used to remove hair, while dog genitals were used to prevent hair bleaching.
In early Christianity, Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, was sometimes depicted with the head of a dog.
There are about 400 million dogs in the world.
The US has the largest dog population in the world. France takes second place.
Bloodhounds have a keen sense of smell, which people have used since the Middle Ages to track criminals.
One female dog and her daughters are capable, under favorable conditions, of producing 4,372 puppies in 7 years.
Dogs have lived with people for over 14,000 years. , only 7000 years.
Most experts believe that humans domesticated dogs before donkeys, sheep, goats, cattle, cats and chickens.
Countess Carlotta Liebenstein of Germany bequeathed approximately $106 million to her alsatine, Gunther III, when she died in 1992.
A missing dachshund was found swallowed whole in the stomach of a giant catfish in Berlin in July 2003.
In Australia, a man who was arrested for drug possession said he civil rights were violated due to the fact that the dog buried itself in the crotch. The judge initially dropped the charge, but it was later reinstated when the prosecutor decided that in the animal kingdom, nose-dipping into the crotch is a friendly gesture.
About 5 million dog bites are reported per year. are the main victims of bites. Dog bites cause more than $1 billion in losses each year.
The maximum number of dogs ever owned by one person was 5,000 mastiffs owned by Kubla Khan.
The American Kennel Club, the most influential dog club in the United States, was founded in 1884.
Some scholars have suggested that Dorothy's dog, Toto, may represent the Egyptian god of death, Anubis. Scholars have debated the metaphysical interpretation of Dorothy's dog, Toto, in The Wizard of Oz. One literary theory suggests that Toto is Anubis, the dog with the head of the Egyptian god of death, because Toto constantly keeps Dorothy from returning home safely.
The first dog chapel was created in 2001. It was built in St. Johnsberry, Vermont, by Stefan Hunek, a children's book author, in honor of the five dogs that helped him recover from a serious illness.
The person who Chinese calendar born in the year of the dog is considered loyal and reserved, although a little temperamental.
In Iran, it is illegal to have a dog as a pet. However, if the owner can prove that the dog is kept for protection or as a hunting dog, this restriction is removed. Muslim reticence regarding dogs may be due to the fact that rabies has always been endemic in the Middle East.
The Mayans and Aztecs associated every tenth day of the year with a dog, and those born on this Dog Day were believed to have outstanding leadership skills.