10 incredible dog secrets

Dog lovers hate the phrase ”just a dog”, as they know this isn’t true.

After reading this, you may change the way you think of ”just a dog”.

Vision

You may have heard that dogs are colour-blind and can see only shades of black, white and grey, but this is a myth.

Dogs can see colour, although not as distinctly as humans can.

Their vision of colour is slightly faded and can be compared to our vision at dusk, when colours are not so bright.

Fingerprints

Every dog owner’s home has wet nose smudges somewhere on a window or mirror.

Did you know that those smudges are their ”fingerprints” for all intents and purposes?

Yes, a dog’s nose print is unique, the same as a human fingerprint.

A nose print can be used to accurately identify a dog.

Next time mischief is caused when you have two or more dogs, but cannot pinpoint which is the culprit, trace that wet smudge!

Smell

It’s common knowledge that a dog has a brilliant sense of smell, but, to put it in perspective, a human has an average of five-million scent receptors, while a dog such as the dachshund (sausage dog or worshondjie) has 125-million.

Can you imagine having 25 times more enhanced smell?

The wetness of a dog’s nose is critical in tracking the direction of smell.

Ears

Have you recently tried moving your ears the way dogs can?

A dog has twice the number of muscles to move its ears as people do and its hearing is 10 times better than ours.

That’s why they are so sensitive to loud noises, just think of when you get a fright due to a door banging or lighting striking, now that sound is 10 times worse for them.

Sweat

Dog’s sweat glands are in parts of the body not covered with fur, such as their paws and nose, but its main form of cooling down is by panting.

That’s when the tongue is lolling around outside the mouth.

Dreams

There has been a lot of debate among humans regarding dogs’ dreams, but dogs actually dream like humans.

Dogs and humans share the same rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, during which dreams happen.

If your dog is twitching or moving its paws while it’s sleeping, it’s probably dreaming.

Intelligence

Border Collies, poodles, German Shepherds and golden retrievers are some of the most intellectual breeds, while it is said that Afghan Hounds are not too bright.

It has been estimated that the average dog is as intelligent as a two-year-old child.

Biggest, smallest and heaviest dog

Some of the biggest dog breeds are the Irish Wolfhounds and, of course, the Great Danes.

The smallest is the chihuahua, and one of the heaviest is the Saint Bernard.

Fastest

The fastest dog breed, the greyhound, can reach speeds of 70km per hour.

Sixth Sense

Dogs can be trained to assist not only the blind, but also epilepsy sufferers.

Some will bark to summon assistance, while others will lie next to the person to help prevent injury.

Some dogs can even sense an epileptic attack before it happens.

Read: Why do dogs become aggressive?

Read: Barking dogs are the owner’s responsibility

Information provided by Badger Holdings.