You know your dog better than anyone. Their unique personalities, preferences, and quirks are part of what makes them such amazing companions. But there may be some things about your best bud that you didn’t know.
We’ve collected 15 of our favorite fun facts about dogs you may not know so you can impress your friends with your canine knowledge and maybe understand your own furry friend a little bit better.
1. Dogs Each Have a Unique Nose Print
Similar to human finger tips, each dog has a totally unique pattern on their nose and their paws. Nose and paw prints are often used for identification purposes. They can also be used to create a mold to immortalize your pup.
2. Dogs Sweat Through Their Paws
Contrary to popular belief, dogs actually do sweat – just not through their skin like humans. They have merocrine sweat glands on their paw pads, which activate when a dog gets too hot and function in a similar way to human sweat glands. That’s why you might see damp paw prints on your floors during hot summer days.
3. Puppies Are Born Deaf
When they’re born, puppies’ ear canals are completely closed in order to protect their still-developing ears and auditory systems. In fact, it’s thought that puppies can’t hear anything until they’re about three weeks old. Once their hearing is fully developed, they can hear almost 4 times better than the average human!
4. Dogs Have Dreams
Dogs experience rapid eye movement (REM) sleep just like humans, which means that they likely dream the same way we do. If you notice your dog twitching, wagging, or moving their legs while they sleep, they may be deep in dreamland.
5. Dalmatians Are Born Without Spots
Dalmatians are famous for their black and white spots. Did you know they’re born with a coat that’s entirely white? Dalmatian puppies develop their spots about 2-4 weeks after they’re born. But while their coat doesn’t have black spots at birth, their skin already has the pigment necessary for spots to develop.
6. Your Dog Understands You Better Than You Think
Most owners can attest that saying words like “walk,” “sit,” or “treat” will elicit a response from their pup. Dogs can actually understand quite a bit of what we say. In fact, according to one researcher, the average trained dog can learn up to 165 words.
While dogs can recognize sounds, much of what they understand comes from non-phonetic cues like inflection, context, and body language.
7. Dogs Can See Color
A common misconception about dogs is that they only see in black and white. In reality, dogs can see color – just not as well as humans. Dogs can see colors on the yellow-blue spectrum best, while their red-green perception isn’t as sophisticated. So if you’re looking for a new toy for your pup, consider getting one with bright blues and yellows!
8. Dogs Can Recognize Human Emotions
Dog owners almost universally claim that their four-legged companions know what they’re feeling. There’s actually scientific evidence to back them up! When shown images of unfamiliar human and dog faces expressing different emotions combined with sounds commonly associated with these emotions, dogs looked at the faces for much longer when the facial expressions matched the vocal tones.
While dogs are better at reading emotions in other pups than in humans, they’re the first non-human animals that scientists have been able to prove can interpret human emotions through expressions and sounds.
9. Dogs Have a Great Sense of Smell
We know that dogs have a more acute sense of smell compared to humans. But did you know that dog noses are actually more than 100,000 times stronger than ours? In addition, the part of the brain that processes smell is about seven times larger in dogs than people.
Because of their powerful noses, dogs have been trained by humans to help us accomplish a number of important jobs, including search-and-rescue missions, archaeological digs, and even bomb-detection operations.
10. Dogs Have Three Eyelids
Humans have two eyelids – upper and lower – to protect from elements like UV, wind, and debris. Dogs also have these upper and lower lids, but they also have a third located in the inner corner of their eye. This third lid is called the nictitating membrane and it provides additional protection, though it’s very thin and isn’t usually visible.
Humans actually used to have this third eyelid as well, but it shrank over generations of evolution to become a small fold in the inner lid called the plica semilunaris
11. All Modern Dogs are Descended From Wolves
Although scientists are still trying to determine the exact details of when and how dogs evolved from wolves, we know that all modern dogs are descended from the same extinct wolf ancestor that’s also related to the modern gray wolf. It’s thought that the evolutionary divergence between modern wolves and domesticated dogs took place approximately 30,000 years ago.
12. Dogs Can Detect Human Illnesses
Have you ever noticed that your dog becomes extra loving when you’re suffering from a flu or cold? This may be because dogs can actually detect illness in humans through their incredible noses. In fact, some dogs are even able to detect serious illnesses such as diabetes and cancer before humans even know they’re sick.
13. The Shortest Dog in the World is Less Than 4 Inches Tall
According to Guinness World Records, the world’s shortest dog, a chihuahua named Pearl from the US, is just 3.59 inches tall. Chihuahuas are considered one of the best small dog breeds to own. They’re intelligent, athletic, and notoriously feisty. They love warm weather, but can do just fine in colder climates when they’re given plenty of warm sweaters and blankets.
14. Yawning is Contagious For Dogs
You’ve probably heard that yawning is contagious in humans. If one person in a room yawns, chances are everyone else will start too. But did you know that yawning is contagious for dogs and other animals too?
Contagious yawning has been observed and studied in a wide range of social animals, including canines. It’s thought that contagious yawning is an evolved trait that results from our empathetic response to other people and animals. It helps to synchronize behavior and sleep schedules.
15. Dogs Love Their Humans
Can you feel how much your dog loves you when they greet you at the door after a long day of work, or when they cuddle up to you on the couch? Science agrees with you!
Research consistently shows that our dogs love us as much as we love them. Their brains have been shown to exhibit positive activity when presented with familiar people and dogs, and oxytocin (the love hormone) is present in both dogs and humans when they interact.