Just For Fun

Dog Facts

The heaviest and the longest dog record is 343 lbs and was 8 feet 3 inches long from nose to tail! The dog was an Old English Mastiff . This was recorded in 1989.

The tallest dog is the Irish Wolfhound. The tallest ever recorded was 100 cm.

The breed that holds the records for the smallest dog was a Yorkshire Terrier, once weighed in at only 283.5g.

The average dog can detect sounds 250 yard away that most humans couldn't hear at 25 yards.

A dog's sense of smell is about 1000 times better than a person's.

The oldest reliable age recorded for a dog is 29 years, 5 months. The breed was a Queensland 'heeler' in Victoria, Australia.

There are over 35 breeds that come from the Mastiff.

It is illegal to crop your dog's ears in the UK.

North America has the highest dog population in the world.

The Italian Greyhound is the fastest dog breed, able to reach speeds of 45 miles per hour on a sprint race track.

Dogs and humans are the only animals with prostates.

The common belief that dogs are color blind is false. Dogs can see color but it is not as vivid a color scheme as we see. It is much like our vision at twilight.

Ancient Chinese royalty carried Pekingese dogs in the sleeves of their royal robes.

Every year, $1.5 billion is spent on pet food. This is four times the amount spent on baby food.

It was once against the law to have a pet dog in a city in Iceland!

Many foot disorders in dogs are related to long toenails.

More than five million puppies are born every year in the United States.

Dogs are able to see much better in dim light than humans are. This is due to the tapetum lucidum, a light-reflecting layer behind the retina. Because it functions like a mirror, it also accounts for the strange shine or glow in a dog's eyes at night.

The notion that cats and dogs are natural enemies (suggested by the phrase,"fighting like cats and dogs") is overstated, if not simply false. Generally speaking, cats and dogs get along better than cats and cats or dogs and dogs.

Surveys show that 62 percent of dog owners admit that their dog owns a sweater, wintercoat or raincoat.

In 1987, cats overtook dogs as the number one pet in America.

A frightened dog puts it's tail between it's legs because it covers the scent glands in the anal area. Since the anal glands carry personal scents that identify individual dogs, the tail-between the-legs behavior is the canine equivalent of insecure humans hiding their faces.

At least 63% of dog owners admitted to kissing their dogs. Of these, some 45% kissed them on the nose, 19% on the neck, 7% on the back, 5% on the stomach and 2% on the legs. An additional 29% listed the place they kiss their dog as "other"!

To figure out your "true dog's age" in human terms, count the first full year as 15 years, the second full year as 10 years and all the following years as 3 years. In other words, a 5 year old dog would be: 15+10+3+3+3=34 years old.

Greyhounds can jump a distance of 27 feet.

The membranes in a dog's nose, if unfolded and laid out, would be larger than the dog itself.

When two dogs approach each other, the dog which wags its tail very slowly is in charge.

The smallest dog in history was a tiny Yorkie from Blackburn, England. At two years of age and fully grown he was only 2.5 inches tall by 3.75 inches long and weighed only 4 ounces.

Dogs have about 100 different facial expressions, most of them made with the ears.

An Animal Hospital Association survey revealed that 62 percent of dog owners sign letter or cards from themselves and their dogs.

Before the enactment of the 1978 law that made it mandatory for dog owners in New York City to clean up after their pets, approximately 40 million pounds of dog excrement were deposited on the streets every year.