Being a dog owner, you’ve likely seen your pup sprawled out on the floor as they sleep. They might even move their paws, whimper, and bark. You then might ask yourself, do dogs dream?
There are some interesting facts about dogs that make us appreciate them even more than we already do. As man’s best friends, let’s discuss topics like do dogs dream? as well as other interesting facts about dogs.
Do Dogs Dream?
Yes, dogs dream! They dream in a very similar way to humans. Scientists believe that dogs replay moments in their head from the day before.
How do we know that dogs dream? It comes from a 2001 study based on rats. Rats were trained to run a maze, and then their brain activity was measured during sleep. Scientists found that the brain activity in the rats was the same during sleep as it was during their training of running the maze.
By analyzing firing patterns of the brain, it was noted that the dreams are a replay of actual experiences. Since rats are intellectually less complex animals than dogs, the theory applies to dog dreaming as well.
While we cover the topic about dogs dreaming, how many hours do dogs sleep? Dogs sleep about 50% of the day. Meanwhile, never 30% spent awake but lounging around, lying on the floor or maybe even your sofa.
Lastly, 20% of the day is spent being active and running around. Keep in mind that these variations depend on the age of a dog as well as if they are a working dog.
Furthermore, if you have your dog sleep in the same room as you, you probably won’t experience a decrease in sleep quality according to Mayo clinic.
If you sleep with your dog, you aren’t alone. Seventy one percent of pet owners sleep with their pets. From there, 43% of people allow the pet to sleep with them every night.
Are there Benefits to Sleeping with Your Dog?
Regardless of the reason that you choose to sleep with your dog, there are benefits for allowing your pup to snuggle in bed with you. While studies show that sleeping with a dog can yield bad quality sleep, other research says otherwise.
For example, studies show that sleeping with your dog brings comfort and safety. It can even help with people suffering from PTSD, or studies show that sleeping with a pet can decrease nightmares.
Dogs Release Feel-Good Oxytocin Chemical in the Human Brain
Did you know that being near or sleeping with your dog releases oxytocin? This chemical is released when a person falls in love or if they are around their child.
This chemical also promotes theta brain waves, which are correlated with REM sleep.
What does this mean? It means that you can actually have a deeper sleep when you’re with your pet. Best of all, these chemicals can also help reduce anxiety and stress.
Dogs Have An Extraordinary Sense Of Smell
It’s common knowledge that dogs have a great sense of smell, but just how good is it? A dog’s sense of smell is 40 times better than ours!
That’s because the area of cells and the dog’s brain is around 40 times larger than what is found with a human. Your dog can smell many more senses than we ever could. Dogs are able to sniff out an amazing variety of things, ranging from people to money and drugs.
Another interesting fact is that some dogs can even sniff out medical problems in humans.
A dog’s sense of smell is so strong that they can detect even the slightest change in humans due to illness or disease. Studies show that dogs are able to detect breast cancer with 88% accuracy and lung cancer with 99% accuracy. This happened during all four stages of cancer.
In addition to cancer, dogs can also smell Parkinson’s disease. They can also send oncoming seizures and epilepsy patients.
Lastly, dogs can also alert diabetics if their blood sugar level is dropping or spiking. They can predict migraines, too.
When it comes to interesting facts about dogs, one curious note is their intelligence level in comparison to that of a human.
Dogs Have Similar Intelligence To Two-year-old Kids
Have you ever wondered about the intelligence of your dog in comparison to humans? The average dog has the mental intelligence of a human two-year-old.
How did researchers come to this conclusion? It is based on a language development test, which shows that dogs can learn an average of 165 words. This includes gestures and signals. The smartest dogs can learn up to 250 words.
What breeds of dogs are the most intelligent? Poodles, border collies, and German shepherds rank the highest in intelligence for dogs.
While dogs are about equal to a two year old in terms of learning words, they are much better at socializing. This is because the social life of a dog is much more complex than that of a toddler. Their social capability is more in comparison to a human teenager.
In addition to intelligence, dogs do show some emotion. This is especially true for anger and disgust. However, more complex emotions such as guilt are not experienced by dogs. Some emotions and dogs such as guilt are actually confused with the emotion of fear.
Interesting Facts About Dogs: They’re Not Colorblind
A common misconception in the life of a dog is that they are color blind. This is not the case. Your dog can see color, but the spectrum is limited.
If dogs aren’t colorblind, then what colors do they see? Dogs see in wavelengths of light in accordance to blue and yellow. This means that they only see blue and yellow, and different combinations of those colors.
So if a dog sees a red flower, they will probably see yellow to brown petals. Green grass probably looks brown dead to them.
Scientific Evidence that Your Dog Loves You
We would all like to think that our dogs love us as much as we love them. It turns out that this is the case?
There is chemical evidence that a dog loves you, too. There is scientific evidence that oxytocin is released in both humans and dogs. This happens when dogs and people walk into each other‘s eyes, which spikes the oxytocin chemical, otherwise known as a love drug.
Domesticated dogs are quite unique when it comes to the release of oxytocin. For example, wolves do not look people in the eye, and oxytocin is not released when they do.
If that isn’t evidence enough, brain scans also tell us that dogs love their humans. A neuroscientist conducted a 2014 study that showed the brain of a dog lights up differently while sniffing its owner.
During the study, when a dog smelled its owner, the brain lit up. But when it set random humans and other dogs, the effects did not appear as strong.
Dogs Become Pets ~14,000 Years Ago
It’s not entirely certain when dogs became domesticated as pets. We do know that dogs split away from wolf ancestors around 25,000 to 40,000 years ago.
The first dog burial was found 14,200 years ago. This tells us about dogs as pets around that time.
While we have a rough time frame of when dogs are domesticated, we are not sure exactly where or why this happened. Dogs are the only animals domesticated by humans during that time period. Farm animals did not become domesticated until farming became widespread.
While the first domesticated dogs were probably more in line with wolves, physical changes were made over time. Dogs eventually took on curly tails and floppy ears, even splotchy coats. This is a process called self domestication.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, self domestication happens when the friendliest animals in a species gains an advantage in some way. It’s noted that a friendly personality correlates with these physical changes. These are physical changes that can be seen in just a few generations.
It’s also noted that wolves would have been more fearful and aggressive toward humans. However, the friendliest wolves would’ve had a one-up over the aggressive wolves.
The Average Lifespan of a Dog Varies from 10-18 Years
While it might not be one of the most interesting facts about dogs, but taking them to the vet each year will keep them healthy! The average dog lifespan depends on the breed of the dog, with some small breeds such as chihuahuas and miniature pinschers living 16 to 18 years. Larger dogs are around the lower end of the range from 10-13.
The good news is that you can give your dog a long and happy life by making sure they see the vet 1-2 times a year. This includes keeping up-to-date on vaccines, nail trims, grooming, and flea and heartworm medications.
We love dogs here at our veterinary clinic! Please contact us today if we can assist you in helping your pup live a long and happy life.
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