Fun dog facts

I'm always telling our clients at Best Friends, when working with your dog you need to keep it light and fun. Your pet will learn faster and be more receptive to the learning process if you keep it light. Make it too serious and that turns to stress and then they shut down their brains OR develop *bad habits* out of that stress. In keeping with the *light and fun* business of training, here are some fun dog facts :

Rin Tin Tin was the first American dog movie star and signed his own contracts for 22 movies with a pawprint.

Toto's role in The Wizard of Oz was played by a female Cairn Terrier named Terry.

In the late 1800's, Lassie type Collies were known as Scottish Sheepdogs.

George Washington had 36 foxhounds, and one was named Sweetlips.

Former President Lyndon Johnson howled with his favorite dog, Yuki, a stray rescued by his daughter, Luci, at a Texas gas station. He also had two Beagles named Him and Her.

Teddy Roosevelt's pit bull, Pete, once ripped off a French ambassador's pants at a White House event.

Franklin D. Roosebelt once spent $15,000 to have a destroyer return to the Aleutian Islands and retrieve his Scottie, Fala, who had been accidentally left behind.

Davy Crockett's dog was named Sport.

Zorba, an English Mastiff, is the heaviest dog on record, weighing 343 lbs at the age of 8 in 1989.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the smallest dog on record was a Yorkshire

Terrier in Great Britain who, at the age of 2, weighed just 4 ounces.

The longest lived dog, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was an Australian Cattle Dog, named Bluey, who lived to be 29.

The first living being to travel in space was a small mixed breed dog named Laika, who gave her life orbiting the earth in the Russian Sputnik in 1957.

John F. Kennedy's terrier, Charlie, sired 4 puppies with Laika's daughter, Pushinka.

The Lundehund breed has 6 toes and can close its ears.

Dalmation puppies are pure white at birth.

Chihuahuas are born with a 'molera', or 'soft spot' like a human baby, which usually closes as they mature.

Dogs do not have an appendix.

An adult dog has 42 teeth.

The only sweat glands a dog has are between the paw pads.

A dog's normal body temperature is 100.5 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

If none are spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in 6 years.

The most successful mountain rescue dog ever was a St Bernard, named Barry, who lived during the early 1800's and saved 40 lives.

A 12 lb Yorkshire Terrier named Oliver once defended an elderly woman from an 80 lb Akita. The woman escaped to safety and the Yorkie survived with only nine stitches.

A German Shepherd guide dog, named Orient, led her blind hiker the entire 2100 mile Appalachian Trail.

The Basset hound made famous in the Hush Puppies shoe commercials was named Biggles.
Biggles' grandson, Mr. Jeffries, earned fame as the dog with the longest ears in the world. His ears measured 11 and ½ inches each and he often tripped over them.

Tia, a 2 year old Neopolitan Mastiff gave birth to the world's largest litter in 2005. She delivered 24 puppies by Cesarean section. Twenty of them survived, setting another record of the most surviving puppies.

The world's tallest dog was a Great Dane from Sacramento named Gibson. He measured 7 feet when standing upright.

Andrew Larkey of Sidney Australia, walked 11 dogs at once on leash for one kilometer.

Twelve veterinary science students from the University of Sydney set a record bathing dogs when they scrubbed 848 dogs in eight hours.

The real hero of the 1925 Serum Run was really Togo. The 12 year old husky led his sled dog team through 260 miles of blowing Alaskan blizzard to deliver emergency diphtheria serum to Nome. Balto received most of the fame because he led the final 55 miles.

The first search and rescue dog on the scene of the World Trade Center disaster on September 11. 2001, was Bear, an 11 year old Golden Retriever. He began recovery efforts immediately, working 18 hour days in the beginning.

Endal, a yellow Lab, helped rehabilitate a Gulf War veteran. He also saved Allen's life, when Allen was struck by a car and knocked from his wheelchair, unconscious. "Endal pulled him into the recovery position, covered him with a blanket and grabbed his cell phone. After no response, he walked to a nearby hotel and raised the alarm.


Courtesy of SUITE101.com