Things You Didn’t Know About Your Dog


Fido Is Smart

Dogs can learn up to 1000 words. (We’re guessing that Bacon, Walk, and Car Ride are Fido’s favorites, while Bath and Vet probably rank near the bottom.) Dogs with pointy ears, like German Shepherds, hear better than pooches with floppy ears. However, all dogs are particularly skilled at hearing the sound of the refrigerator door opening.

Happy Tail

Most people associate wagging tails with happy dogs. While that is usually the case, Fido’s ‘tail language’ is a bit more complex than that. A slow wag, for instance, is often a sign that a dog is uncertain about something.

Puppy Love

Did you know that dogs grow to about half of their adult body weight in their first five months? It takes about a year or so for them to gain the other half. Growing is pretty hard work: Fido may sleep as much as 20 hours a day during his adorable puppy phase. In fact, tired puppies often get cranky, just like tired babies do!


Dogs have been our companions for a very long time. Some studies show that we first domesticated dogs between 9000 and 34,000 years ago. The oldest breed of dog in the world is the Saluki, which originated in Egypt around 329 BC.

The Nose Knows

Young puppies’ noses are very heat sensitive. This helps them find their moms before their eyes open. Actually, that cute little nose is pretty impressive. Fido’s sense of smell is between 1,000 to 10,000,000 times more sensitive than ours. However, if your pooch is overheated and panting, his sense of smell can drop by as much as 40 percent. Another interesting thing about dogs’ noses is the fact that they all have unique noseprints. Those pieces of nose art your canine pal leaves on your windows truly are one-of-a-kind masterpieces!

In Living Color

Dogs’ eyes don’t have any receptors that pick up the color red. Fido isn’t exactly colorblind, but he sees mostly in black, white, blue, and yellow.

Please contact us, your Carolina Forest, SC pet clinic, with any questions or concerns about your dog’s health or care. We are here to help!

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