Interesting Stuff About Dogs
Dogs can be wonderful companions for people of any age. For those of us in the “seasoned times” of life, having a dog around can be especially life-enriching.
If you’re a dog lover, you know how dedicated folks can be to their four-footed friends, often treating them like family. Most dogs feel the same way about their owners and freely share limitless amounts of unconditional love.
Even if you have loads of experience with dogs, there may be a few things you still don’t know about the popular addition to a family.
A few interesting facts about dogs…
- Dogs have a keen sense of smell. It is expected that tracking and hunting breeds are able to sniff out a target. But, in general, most dog breeds have an ability to smell that’s way beyond anything we humans can achieve. Dogs have millions more scent receptors in their noses than we do, and the area of a dog’s brain that’s devoted to smell is far larger than ours as well. Your dog can recognize your scent quickly and easily even after you’ve left the room. That’s because, to your dog, your scent is completely unique, much like your fingerprints.
- No two dog noses are the same. Speaking of fingerprints, your dog’s nose is similar to a fingerprint because there’s no other dog nose on the planet exactly like it. If you look closely, you can see a pattern of ridges on your dog’s nose. That pattern is unique to your dog.
- Dogs aren’t really color blind. It may be a common belief, but it’s not a fact. Dogs may not see colors exactly how we see them, but they do see colors. According to research done on the subject, dogs tend to see colors with blue, yellow, and green tones, but not those with redder hues.
- Tail wagging is not the same thing as smiling. A dog’s tail is a communication vehicle that shows a variety of emotions. A basic tail wag may just mean a dog is interested in what’s going on in his/her environment at the moment. A wagging tail that’s low to the ground could mean a dog is feeling aggressive, especially if the dog’s muscles are tensed as well. A full body tail wag, where the body itself is swaying and the tail is making big sweeping motions, is the most likely sign a dog is excited and ready for some friendly interaction.
- Dogs have hearing muscles in their ears. Dogs have many more muscles in their ears than humans, which helps the animals hear far better than we do. Their ear muscles make it possible for dogs to move their ears to localize sounds and tune into them, even when the sounds are far away. Because their hearing is so much more sensitive than ours, dogs react to sounds we don’t even hear. That’s why dogs are often startled by a sounds that seems far away to us, like a car door slamming down the street.
- “Dog breath” isn’t funny! Plenty of folks throw around the phrase “dog breath” in a joking way. But, a dog with persistent bad breath can be a sign of potentially dangerous health issues, like tooth problems, gum disease, oral tumors, gastrointestinal illnesses, or kidney disease. An odor may signal something as seemingly minor as a tooth cavity, but a simple cavity in a dog that’s left untreated could worsen and lead to a severe infection.
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