Some facts about dogs

Bringing a dog or puppy into your family is a huge decision, and here are some things about man’s best four-legged friend that are sure to be of interest to children (and some adults):

• An adult dog has 42 teeth.
• A dog’s sense of smell is more than 1 million times stronger than that of a person.
• More than 1 in 3 families in the United States owns a dog.
• Spaying or neutering your dog can help prevent certain types of cancer.
• If never spayed or neutered, a pair of dogs can produce 66,000 puppies in 6 years.
• A dog’s sense of hearing is more than 10 times more accurate than that of a person.
• The average dog can run about 19 miles per hour at full speed.
• Dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible.
• A dog’s nose print is one of a kind, very similar to a person’s fingerprint.
• The average body temperature for a dog is 101.2.
• With an average lifespan of just over 11 years, the typical dog costs $13,500.
• The only sweat glands a dog has are between its toes.
• Dogs are omnivorous; they need to eat more than just meat.
• Dogs have twice as many ear muscles as people.
• Dogs will be submissive to anyone they feel is higher up in the pack.
• People have been keeping dogs for pets for 12,000 years.
• A female dog carries her puppies for about 60 days before they are born.
• It is a myth dogs are color blind; they actually see color, just not as vividly as a person.
• Obesity is the number-one health problem in dogs.
• Seventy percent of people sign their pets name on greeting/holiday cards.