Puppies are adorable, cute and endearing. But did you know these facts about your little best friend?
1. Dogs are born blind and deaf
Due to the short amount of time dogs spend developing their mother’s womb, puppies are blind and deaf at birth. They continue developing once they are born, gaining the ability to see and hear at around 2 weeks of age.
2. Dogs know they are manipulating you
We all know those ‘puppy eyes’, the ones that dogs deploy when they have something that they want from you. But I bet you didn’t realise that your dog is doing it on purpose to get your attention? They have learnt that by making their eyes appear big and sad, there is a higher chance that we give them the attention that they seek.
3. Looking at dogs increases your productivity
In an experiment conducted by Hiroshima University in 2012, they found that people who recently saw pictures of puppies and kittens increased the participant’s concentration compared to participants that saw pictures of foods and other animals.
4. Dogs can be used as evidence in courts
Everyone in the world knows that dogs have a keen sense of smell. So good in fact, that it is admissible in court. A Bloodhound’s sense of smell is so spot on that it can follow traces that are nearly two weeks for over 200 kilometres!
5. They have 3 Eyelids
Humans have 2 eyelids. One is located at the top of your eyes, and the other one is located at the bottom, and they meet in the middle when you close your eyes. But did you know that some mammals, including dogs, have a third eyelid that goes from side to side? Apparently the function of this third eyelid is to keep the canine’s eyes protected and lubricated, similar to a windscreen wiper.
6. Dogs understand time
Well, not in the sense that they know it’s 9:15AM or there’s an hour’s difference between 9 and 10 o’clock.But they can tell the difference between a couple of minutes and half an hour. If you always walk your dog 30 minutes after you get home from work, your dog will know when it’s time to go.
7. Dogs get Jealous
Do you think that your dog wouldn’t care if you pet another dog? Well, it seems that your dog can actually get jealous if you display affection for another animal.
8. They can detect cancer.
As mentioned previously, dogs have a very good sense of smell. They are even trained to detect cancer in humans. Apparently, dogs can detect cancer cells in a human’s breath. Apparently, different metabolic waste products are produced by cancer cells than normal cells, which the dogs detect.
9. Their nose is unique
Every human has their own set of unique fingerprints. For dogs, it is their nose print that is uniquely identifiable to them.
10. They were trained to blow up tanks.
During WW2, the Russians tried to train their dogs to run underneath enemy tanks strapped with mines. I said ‘tried’ because they trained the dogs using their own tanks. But the appearances of the two opposing tanks were quite different. This meant that in actual combat, instead of running to the enemy tanks, they ran towards their own as the appearances