Fun Facts and Information
Some fun facts and some famous dogs:
The first sense a dog develops is touch. It's whole body, even it's paws and pads are covered with sensitive nerve endings.
Dogs have an incredibly strong sense of hearing. They can hear sounds at 4 times the distance that the average human can.
In the Middle Ages, dogs quite similar to Great Danes and mastiffs often fought in battles, wearing suits of armor and spiked collars.
In the 13th century, Kublai Khan, the great mongol leader of china, is said to have owned 5,000 Mastiffs, the most dogs ever kept by one person.
The only dog to achieve a promotion from the military was an adopted stray pit-bull mix named Stubby, from the US. During WWI, Stubby was promoted to sergeant for combat services. These included warning his battalion of surprise chemical gas attacks.
The longest living dog was an Australian Cattle Dog named Bluey, Who died at the ripe age of 29 years, 5 months, and 7 days.
The farthest distance crossed by a lost pet dog to find it's way home was 2,000 miles. This journey was made by, Jimpa, a Labrador/boxer mix.
One of the most expensive dogs was a Tibetan mastiff named Hong Dong, who was sold to a chinese coal baron for $1.5 million.
A single search and rescue dog can do the work of up to 30 human searchers.
Greyhounds are the fastest dogs on Earth. They can run at speeds of up to 40 MPH.
Dogs have more than 300 million scent detecting cells, while humans have only 6 million.
Suggested reading list:
"The Other End Of The Leash" - Patricia B. McConnell PH.D.
"Don't Shoot the Dog" - Karen Pryor
"Team Dog" - Mike Ritland
"On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals" - Turid Rugaas
"How Dogs Think" - Stanley Coren
"Dog Insight" - Pamela Reid