22 Interesting facts about different dog breeds

While all canines share a common genetic ancestry way back in the mists of time, the evolution of dogs over many thousands of years has scattered our canine companions all over the globe, and led to some very specific and unique traits being cemented into different breeds, which sets them apart from all of the others! The sheer diversity in terms of appearance, personality, usage and inherited traits of different breeds is almost limitless, and some of the factors that make up a particular breed can be rather unusual! Read on to learn some interesting facts about different dog breeds from around the world.

1. The Chihuahua is born with a soft spot on their skull, just like human babies are. This hardens up as they age, and is known as a “molera.”
2. Dalmatian puppies are born pure white, and their spots do not begin to develop until they are around three weeks of age.
3. Dogs such as the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the Pit Bull are wrongly assumed to have a locking jaw, that becomes fixed into place when they grip prey or toys such as a stick and makes it impossible to release until they are ready. This is a myth- it is simply the innate strength within the jaws of certain dogs that makes it extremely difficult to manually cause them to release their jaws.
4. The Basenji dog cannot bark- instead, it makes a vocal sound that sounds very much like a yodel! This often takes people who are unfamiliar with the breed very much by surprise!
5. The small, cute and friendly Dachshund dog was actually originally bred to fight badgers!
6. The Boxer dog is so named due to their propensity to “box” or swat with their front paws, much like cats do. During the 1900’s, Boxer dogs were very popular as circus dogs.
7. The first dog to ever appear in a movie was a Border Collie cross called Jean, and he appeared on the big screen in 1910.
8. The fastest breed of dog is of course the Greyhound - they can run at up to 45 miles per hour! The average top running speed for other breeds of dog is around 20mph.
9. Several dogs were aboard the ill-fated Titanic when it sank, and three made it out alive- a Pekingese, a Pomeranian and a Newfoundland.
10. While the German Shepherd is most commonly associated with working roles in a security or guarding capacity, they also make excellent assistance dogs; A German Shepherd guided her blind handler over the Appalachian mountain trail, which is 2100 miles long!
11. During the middle ages, Mastiff dogs were used to guard travelling convoys from predators and outlaws, and were dressed in full armour complete with spiked collars when they did so!
12. The French Poodle isn’t actually French at all- these dogs actually originated in Germany.
13. The Poodle dog is also the most popular contributing breed to hybrid dog types, such as the Labradoodle and the Cockapoo.
14. The Rhodesian Ridgeback dog is a fearless hunter, and with good reason- they were originally used to hunt lions!
15. The Newfoundland dog has webbed paws, and are extremely good swimmers as a result! They are popularly used to assist on fishing boats, and to help people who have fallen into the water.
16. The Shar-Pei dog has a highly distinctive and unusual purple tongue!
17. The Catalburun dog has a highly distinctive split nose; they also have superior scenting abilities, although scientists are baffled as to why the nose is split, or if this plays a part in their scenting ability.
18. The Kerry Blue Terrier is actually born black, not blue, and it can take until the dog is two years old for their full blue coat to come in.
19. The Korean Jindo dog is a proficient hunter, but unusually, they do not normally work alongside people as part of a hunting team. They usually hunt alone, bringing their prey home with them. If they take down prey too large for them to manage on their own, they return for their handlers and take them out to fetch it!
20. The Alaskan Klee Klai dog is not actually bred in Alaska, but in America. It is actually a toy version of the Siberian Husky, and not related to any Alaskan dog breeds at all!
21. The Catahoula dog possesses perhaps one of the most unique canine traits of all; they are competent climbers, and can even climb trees! This is, of course, highly unusual in the dog world, as most dogs do not have the right conformation of the legs and paws to enable vertical climbing.
22. The Basset Hound is the only dog breed credited with having genuine achondroplasia, or the gene for dwarfism. Their legs and joints are stunted, but their heads and bodies are normal size. This also makes swimming challenging and sometimes impossible for this breed of dog.