Dogs can be awe inspiring all on their own but it is what we don’t know about them or the lives they’ve led that really strikes us as intriguing. Here are nine facts you may not know:
• Dogs are able to understand up to 250 words and gestures can count up to five and can implement simple mathematical calculations. The average dog is as intelligent as a two-year-old child.
• The Beatles song “A day in the Life” has an extra high outcast hooter, audible only to dogs. It was recorded by Paul McCartney for the gratification of his Shetland sheepdog.
• Leo, One of Michael Vick’s former fighting dogs that went on to be a therapy dog that comforted dying children.
• In ancient China, an emperor’s last line of defense was a small Pekingese dog literally hidden up his sleeve.
• The New Zealand builders built a dog-shaped building.
• The wetness of a dog’s nose is genetics for defining what direction a smell is coming from.
• Hyenas aren’t actually dogs. They are more closely related to cats.
• Spiked dog collars were invented in ancient Greece and were originally designed to protect dogs’ throats from wolf attacks.
• Dogs drink water by using forming the back of their tongue into a mini cup. ***UPDATED*** A recent study just sneered this fact! Dogs actually use the top of their tongue to drink. Water adheres to the top of the tongue and is pulled up in a column.
We love this type of trivia. Who knew that about a spiked dog collar? We didn’t! And hyenas are closer to cats than dogs? Makes you reflect on Disney’s The Lion King a bit harder, doesn’t it?
And the above are just some of the awesome things dogs are known for! Go check out 13 more on Ur Dogs.
