Dog Facts 13,

•  1. The Labrador Retriever has been on the AKC’s top 10 most popular breeds list for longer than any other breed.
• 2. A dog’s nose print is unique, much like a person’s fingerprint.
• 3. Forty-five percent of U.S. dogs sleep in their owner’s beds.
• 4. Speaking of sleeping … all dogs dream, but puppies and senior dogs dream more frequently than adult dogs.
• 5. Seventy percent of people sign their dog’s name on their holiday cards.
• 6. A dog’s sense of smell is legendary, but did you know that their nose has as many as 300 million receptors? In comparison, a human nose has about 5 million.
• 7. Rin Tin Tin, the famous German Shepherd Dog, was nominated for an Academy Award.
• 8. Dogs’ noses can sense heat and thermal radiation, which explains why blind or deaf dogs can still hunt.
• 9. The French Bulldog was first named the most popular breed in 2022.
• 10. The name Collie means “black.” (Collies once tended black-faced sheep.)
• 11. Yawning is contagious — even for dogs. Research shows that the sound of a human yawn can trigger one from your dog. And it’s four times as likely to happen when it’s the yawn of a person your pet knows.
• 12. The Dandie Dinmont Terrier is the only breed named for a fictional person, a character in the novel “Guy Mannering” by Sir Walter Scott.
• 13. Dogs curl up in a ball when sleeping to protect their organs — a holdover from their days in the wild, when they were vulnerable to predator attacks.
• 14. The Basenji is not technically “barkless,” as many people think. They can yodel.
• 15. The Australian Shepherd is not actually from Australia. In fact, they are an American breed.