There are endless surprising facts about dogs. Some will make you laugh. Some will pop into your head hours later. And all of them will have you wondering what secrets you’re yet to learn from your own four-legged friend.
Take a look at these 9 surprising facts about dogs and then let us know whether you’ve gained a newfound respect for your canine companion!
#1: They’re not true carnivores, and neither are wolves
Unlike our feline friends who need a meat-based diet to survive, canines have much more flexible digestive systems. That’s not to say that you’ll see a pack of wolves grazing alongside a herd of deer. But, they can eat berries, seeds, and grasses, especially when hunting hasn’t been successful.
Now, our domesticated doggos are much more omnivorous than these wild wolf ancestors. In fact, historians think that when dogs became tame, some 30,000 years ago, they evolved to eat a diet that mirrored our own. By eating our scraps, dogs picked up our omnivorous tendencies.
#2: If you look closely, you can see dogs in the Star Wars universe
In a galaxy far, far away, you might just find some surprising facts about dogs!
Remember those cute little rascals on the forest moon of Endor? That’s right, Ewoks were inspired by dogs. Star Wars creator George Lucas got the idea from his own dog, a Brussels Griffon.
Need someone to watch you Earth-dwelling Ewok while you’re traveling to far-off planets? Leave them in the care of a responsible Pet Sitter in your area.
#3: The tallest dog in the world was 1.118m tall
Great Danes are known for their towering height. But Zeus really took it to a new level. This Guinness World Record holder reached an astounding 1.118m. When he teetered on his hind legs, he could reach up to 2.23m!
Like most Great Danes, Zeus was a gentle giant. He got along with the family cat and any other two- and four-legged friends he could find. And he certainly took our list of surprising facts about dogs to new heights!
#4: Dogs can make your immune system stronger
We may get frustrated when our doggos track mud and dirt through the house, but in reality, we should probably be thanking them. Our dogs, as expert carriers of germs, help us humans, especially young children, build up a strong immune system. One study found infants living in a house with dogs to be 66 to 77% less likely to develop autoimmune disorders like allergies. It’s believed that this is because our puppers expose us to a world of microbes that our immune system can use to bulk up.
There are a range of other advantages to being a Dog Owner, which you can read up on in our article, 6 Health Benefits of Owning a Dog.
#5: Dogs know about Earth’s magnetic field, and they use it to poop
Alright, this is one of the weirder surprising facts about dogs we’ve got for you, but hear us out. Using the same concept that allows birds to migrate, dogs can tap into Earth’s magnetic field for their own devices.
Perhaps the most practical way to use this magnetic field is navigation. A study conducted out of Prague found that dogs who stray away from their Owners tend to reorient themselves by running along the north-south axis. After running along the axis, they were able to find the most streamlined path back to their Owners; the dogs who didn’t tap into the magnetic field took longer to make their way back.
Now, where does the pooping come in? As it turns out, most dogs will defecate and urinate in line with the north-south axis. Why? Again, it probably has something to do with spatial orientation. In order to keep track of their territorial boundaries—and mark them accordingly—or doggos have learned to keep an eye on the North.
You can test out your dog’s navigation skills by taking a compass on your next potty break!
#6: Sorry cats, dogs are smarter
If there are any cats reading this, remember that we love you. But our list of surprising facts about dogs has to be honest: dogs are smarter.
As it turns out, dogs have about twice as many neurons as cats—about 500 million neurons compared to 250 million. And scientists are pretty confident that this gap suggests that dogs are better at problem-solving, memory, and other brainy pursuits.
To put it in perspective, humans have about 16 billion neurons.
#7: Here’s another brainy fact: different dog breeds have different brain structures
For many years, we assumed that the smartest dogs were the ones that we could train most easily. But, any Owner of a strong-willed Sarplaninac or a clever Chinese Crested will tell you that intelligence doesn’t always mean obedience.
Luckily, we may have a new way of understanding doggy intelligence: by taking a look in their noggins. New research from 2019 shows that breeding has significantly changed the ways our dogs’ brains look. Some dogs have a brain structure perfectly suited towards navigation. Others have brains that are ideal for olfactory memory. So, it’s not necessarily that some dog breeds are smarter than others, but rather that their brains are hardwired to excel at a specific task.
#8: Some dogs can navigate public transportation
There’s been a long debate in major Australian cities about whether dogs should be allowed on public transit. But in the back-and-forth, no one ever imagined that the doggos would be navigating public transit on their own! In Moscow, though, a dog on a subway is just a normal part of commuting. And reportedly, these stray dogs have places to be. They can be seen boarding the same trains every day.
How do they do it? Well, we can’t say for sure. Dogs are skilled timekeepers, and they may simply be taking the train that comes at the same time everyday.
It’s also possible that they’ve picked up a habit of taking the trains with the same overhead announcement. You may remember from our article, How Many Languages Can Dogs Understand?, that our pups are great at associating specific sounds to outcomes. So, if they received a food scrap or a head pat on a specific train, they may learn to listen for the announcement for that train.
#9: Many of the oldest dogs to ever live were Australian!
Maybe it’s something in the water here, but our dogs tend to outlive most of the world’s puppers.
The most famous is Bluey, an Australian Cattle Dog from Victoria, who continues to be the oldest dog on record. When he died in 1939, he had reached the ripe old age of 29 years old!
Then, there was Chilla, another Aussie Cattle Dog from Queensland, who was rumoured to be 32 years old at the time of her passing in 1984.
Most recently, we’ve had to say goodbye to Maggie, an Australian Kelpie who lived out her days on a dairy farm in Woolsthorpe, Victoria. While she doesn’t have the documentation to get her the Guiness World Record, her Owners say that she was 30 years old.
Both of these dog breeds have a pretty long life expectancy for their size, at about 15-16 years. Add that to life on the farm in beautiful Australia, and the result may just be record-breaking!
Have some surprising facts about dogs of your own?
Do you have a newfound respect for your amazing canine companion? Or has this list inspired you to scour the internet for even more information on the four-legged creature you share your life with?
Either way, the more surprising facts about dogs we find, the more we love these furry friends of ours!
