All About Dogs: 11 Things You Probably Didn’t Know about Dogs

Mo and Finchy (the main characters in The Adventures of Mo eBook) meet many animals throughout their journey across the United States. Some of these animals just happen to be dogs: big dogs, small dogs, friendly dogs, attractive dogs. . . But regardless of how they look or act, all dogs in real life possess superior physical traits when compared to humans.

Consider these facts from the American Kennel Club and The University of Adelaide (South Australia):

• Every person on this planet has a unique set of fingerprints. Well, so do dogs, except their nose is their fingerprint. No two dog snouts are alike.
• All puppies are born blind and deaf. Most open their eyes and respond to noises after several weeks.
• Most people know that dogs are terrific when it comes to detecting scents and using their sniffers. But what you may not know is how far they can smell depends on many factors, including the wind. Some dogs have been reported to smell objects or people as far as 12 miles away! Their noses can also sense heat, which explains why blind or deaf dogs can hunt.

Here’s the science behind a dog’s ability to smell: While people have approximately five million receptors in their nose, dogs have as many as 300 million. Think of their super sense this way: when you walk into a bakery, you’re able to smell the yummy cookies, cakes, breads or pastries being sold. But when dogs walk into that same bakery, they smell all the individual ingredients, like the flour, sugar, or chocolate, used to make the baked goods.

More interesting facts:

• When you yawn, does your dog yawn, too? The sound of a human yawn can trigger one from your pet. Dogs are also four times more likely to yawn when the person yawning is someone they know.
• Ever wonder why dogs curl up in a ball, especially when sleeping? That’s something they learned many years ago when they lived in the wild. Curling up into a ball helped them survive because it would protect their organs in case other animals attacked them.
• Does your dog eat everything and anything in sight, no matter how disgusting it looks or how long it’s been sitting on the side of the road? This is one area where humans fare better. Dogs only have about 1,700 taste buds compared to humans, who have between 2,000 and 10,000. 
• All dogs dream, but puppies and senior dogs dream more frequently than adult dogs. What do you think your dog(s) dream about? 
• Our four-legged friends have three eyelids. According to iHeartDogs, the third lid is called the ‘haw’ or nictitating membrane. It protects the eye by wiping debris off its surface, helps fight infection, and lubricates the eye or produces one-third of tears for the eye.

These remaining facts were found in articles published by Reader’s Digest:

• When dogs wag their tail, it doesn’t always mean they’re happy or excited. “According to Discovery.com, dogs wag their tails to the right when they’re happy and to the left when they’re frightened. Wagging low means they’re insecure, and rapid tail wagging accompanied by tense muscles or dilated pupils can signal aggression.” 
• Does your dog twirl around before he or she poops? Researchers believe it’s not because dogs are picky, but rather that it has to do with the Earth’s magnetic field. Seriously. Dogs like to poop facing north or south and spinning around helps them correctly orient their internal compasses.
• Dogs are not color blind. They can actually see a spectrum of color. While they have trouble distinguishing between different shades of green and red, which will mostly just appear as grays and browns, blue and yellow tones are relatively clear to them.

Is there anything you can share or add to this list, even about your own dog? Please email your information to info@adventuresofmo.com and we’ll publish it along with your first name, age, and state.