It’s Tuesday so that means…it’s Trivia Day. Check out the latest fascinating facts I recently discovered.

 Did you know that the wetness of a dog’s nose is essential for determining what direction a smell is coming from? I expect all of you with hunters will have known this, but this was completely unknown by me.

And why are dog’s noses wet? Dogs secret a thin layer of mucous that helps them absorb scents. Licking their nose help them sample the scent through their mouths.

When English poet Lord Byron was informed that his beloved dog, Boatswain would not be allowed to accompany him to Cambridge Trinity College, he retaliated by bringing a tame bear instead. There being no mention of bears in their statutes, the college authorities relented.  Byron also suggested that he would apply for a college fellowship for the bear.

Puppies have 28 teeth and normal adult dogs have 42. If that’s true, how come when a puppy play bites, you feel like you’ve just been bitten by the shark from Jaws?

While we’re on exploring the anatomy of dogs, did you know that their shoulder blades are unattached to the rest of the skeleton to allow for greater flexibility for running? Wild, huh?

Besides sweating through the pads of their paws, dogs pant to cool themselves off. A panting dog can take 300-400 breaths (compared with the regular 30-40) with little effort. When your dog’s feet smell like corn chips it’s because their feet are in constant contact with the ground picking up tons of microorganisms on the paws. When dogs cool off by sweating through the pads, the combination of moisture and bacteria releases that nutty, popcorn-like aroma. the term, Frito Feet is roughly akin to canine body order.

With the recent fly by of the little beloved planet, Pluto, I thought you’d appreciate knowing the very first animal launched into space was the Russian dog, Laika who orbited the earth in 1957 in the spacecraft Sputnik 2. Laika was a 3 year-old stray female from the streets of Moscow. Sadly, she did not survive the trip (and was not expected to survive by scientists on the ground), reportedly dying on the fourth day of the trip, though there were conflicting accounts as to the actual cause of death. Her remains disintegrated when the craft re-entered the atmosphere five months following the launch.

 

The shape of a dog’s face suggest how long it will live. Dogs with sharp-pointed faces (much like wolves) typically live longer. Dogs with flat faces, i.e. bulldogs, often have shorter lives.

And in the ‘hear’s looking at you category, dogs have three eyelids, an upper, a lower and a third lid, known as a nictitating membrane or haw that keeps the eye lubricated and protected.

Live, love, bark! <3