Fun Dog Facts

Interesting Facts About Our Canines

© Joy Butler

Apr 24, 2006

Collie, Joy Butler

Dogs are perhaps the most popular pet in America. Check out these interesting, and sometimes funny, facts to see how much trivia you know about man's best friend.

  • Rin Tin Tin was the first American dog movie star and signed his own contracts for 22 movies with a pawprint.
  • Toto's role in The Wizard of Oz was played by a female Cairn Terrier named Terry.
  • In the late 1800's, Lassie type Collies were known as Scottish Sheepdogs.
  • George Washington had 36 foxhounds, and one was named Sweetlips.
  • Former President Lyndon Johnson howled with his favorite dog, Yuki, a stray rescued by his daughter, Luci, at a Texas gas station. He also had two Beagles named Him and Her.
  • Teddy Roosevelt's pit bull, Pete, once ripped off a French ambassador's pants at a White House event.
  • Franklin D. Roosebelt once spent $15,000 to have a destroyer return to the Aleutian Islands and retrieve his Scottie, Fala, who had been accidentally left behind.
  • Davy Crockett's dog was named Sport.
  • Zorba, an English Mastiff, is the heaviest dog on record, weighing 343 lbs at the age of 8 in 1989.
  • According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the smallest dog on record was a Yorkshire Terrier in Great Britain who, at the age of 2, weighed just 4 ounces.
  • The longest lived dog, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was an Australian Cattle Dog, named Bluey, who lived to be 29.
  • The first living being to travel in space was a small mixed breed dog named Laika, who gave her life orbiting the earth in the Russian Sputnik in 1957.
  • John F. Kennedy's terrier, Charlie, sired 4 puppies with Laika's daughter, Pushinka.
  • The Lundehund breed has 6 toes and can close its ears.
  • Dalmation puppies are pure white at birth.
  • Chihuahuas are born with a 'molera', or 'soft spot' like a human baby, which usually closes as they mature.
  • Dogs do not have an appendix.
  • An adult dog has 42 teeth.
  • The only sweat glands a dog has are between the paw pads.
  • A dog's normal body temperature is 100.5 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • If none are spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in 6 years.
  • The most successful mountain rescue dog ever was a St Bernard, named Barry, who lived during the early 1800's and saved 40 lives.
  • A 12 lb Yorkshire Terrier named Oliver once defended an elderly woman from an 80 lb Akita. The woman escaped to safety and the Yorkie survived with only nine stitches.
  • A German Shepherd guide dog, named Orient, led her blind hiker the entire 2100 mile Appalachian Trail.Do you know more fun trivia facts about dogs? Please share them with us at the discussion link below!Related Articles:
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    • The copyright of the article Fun Dog Facts in Dogs is owned by Joy Butler. Permission to republish Fun Dog Facts must be granted by the author in writing.




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