Dog Facts

Pass Along JL
April 09

Dog Facts

Some interesting and entertaining things about canines from Spott's Canine Miscellany by Mike Darton of the U.K. We make no endorsement of the veracity of any of this stuff, but it's fun to read:

• Tale of the Tail: A dog wags its tail as a form of communication -- when a dog is alone, no matter its mood, it doesn't wag. The communicative wagging is essentially because dogs don't see immobile objects as well as they do movement. Wolves and some other wild Canids, for example, have bushy tails so movement and therefore communication can be seen at a distance. And how about this? Tail-wagging is a learned behavior -- pups don't start it until they're about seven weeks old and have been hanging out with other pups that they need to communicate with. Some Italian research suggests that dogs wag their tails to the right when they see something familiar, like their owners, and to the left at things unfamiliar. Many victims of dog bites don't understand why Fido gave them the big chomp, because he was wagging his tail -- was he? If the thing is sticking straight up and only the tip is moving, he's spooked and not in the friendliest of moods.

• Did I say "bites"? Here's some dog-bite facts: 90 percent of dog bites come from dogs the victim knows, most are kids bitten in the face or neck, and female dogs bite at a rate twice that of male dogs.

• And that left-right thing? When dogs use their paws to manipulate something, they are right-or left-pawed, like humans are right- or left-handed. Studies suggest that males dog are more likely to be lefties. (Who researches this stuff, and is our tax money paying for it?)

• All dogs do the dog paddle, but for at least one, it doesn't do any good. Because of the heaviness of its bones, basset hounds can't swim -- sink like bricks, they do.

• If you think the "Labradoodle" Lab x poodle cross is new, forget it. There are actually 60 known poodle x something else crosses. Maybe there's something to those French lover legends after all. And the most popular breed in France? Poodles, of course. Second place, Labradors. In Spain? Labs again. In the U.S. -- we know that one: Labs.

• Again with the "speaking of," speaking of lovers, we love our dogs. How much? Well, in a 2004 study, there were more dogs in households in the U.S. and Canada than there were human children. (Who researches this stuff?) But then, the dog doesn't break curfew and wreck the car, either.

• It's no secret that domestic dogs were once wild canines -- wolves -- but have any dogs gone from domestic back to the wild? Yep: the Australian dingo came from domestic dogs introduced to the continent eons ago. No naturally occurring Canids Down Under. (One day long ago...There was a farmer had a dog and Dingo was his name-o. Sorry.) They aren't just is Australia, either. And the "wild dog" of Africa is naturally occurring and not a domestic dog gone wild.

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