- A puppy is born blind, deaf and totally toothless.
- It's been estimated that dogs can identify smells somewhere between 1,000 to 10,000 times better than humans can.While humans have 5 million smell-detecting cells, dogs have more than 220 million. The part of the brain that interprets smell is also four times larger in dogs than in humans.
- Dogs have a wet nose to collect more of the tiny droplets of smelling chemicals in the air.
- Touch is the first sense a dog develop.
- The normal body temperature for a dog is 101.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Dogs have twice as many movement muscles as humans.
- 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.
- Dogs are long sighted and very sensitive to movement and can recognise a moving object nearly 1km away.
- Dogs cannot see as well as humans and are considered colour blind. A dog sees objects first by their movement, second by their brightness, and third by their shape.
- The average dog's mouth exerts around 150-200 pounds of pressure per square inch. Some breeds can even reach 450 pounds.
- A dog's sense of taste is different to humans. Dogs have 1700 taste buds, which is 5 times less than humans who have 9000 taste buds on their tongue
- A dog can take around ten to thirty breaths in a minute.
- Did you know that the body of a dog contains 321 bones?
- Dogs have only 28 milk teeth, but 42 permanent teeth.
- Dogs pant to keep themselves cool. They actually sweat through the pads of their feet.
- Dogs have twice as many muscles for moving their ears as people.
- Dogs' internal clocks are really magnificent. They know when it's time for you to arrive home, feed them, or go to bed if you are normally on a schedule.
- Dogs and cats turn in circles before lying down as in the wild this instinctive action turns long grass into a bed.
- A dog's heart beats between 70 and 120 times a minute, compared with a human heart which beats 70 to 80 times a minute.
- When it comes to humans, fingerprints play a major role in identification. Did you know that a dog's nose prints are as unique as a human's fingerprint? These can also act as a substantial proof for identification.
- A female carries her young about 60 days before the puppies are born.
- The phrase "raining cats and dogs" originated in seventeenth-century England. During heavy rainstorms, many homeless animals would drown and float down the streets.