Gina Spadafori - Bowwow!: Curiously Compelling Facts, True Tales, and Trivia Even Your Dog Wont Know

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Table of Contents

Introduction

WE MAY, AS PET LOVERS, prefer cats in terms of sheer numbers, but theres no doubt we dote on our dogs more and have meddled with them more, too. From an animal that started out eating the scraps and trash from our ancestors encampments, weve developed a companion animal and workmate that is so diverse and versatile its difficult to imagine all dogs are really the same species.

But they are. Science tells us that doggy DNA is basically the same from Maltese to Mastiff, from Basset Hound to Greyhound. We have dogs who sniff out drugs and bombs, detect seizures and cancer, elevate moods and decrease blood pressure, herd sheep, retrieve birds, guard our stuff, help wheelchair users, pull sleds, and morebut most dogs these days just sleep on the couch. Born retired, if you will. The evolution of canis lupus familiaris from the wolfish animals of our ancestors to the stylish accessory pup in a celebritys pricey handbag has been dramatic, and yet theres still plenty even the most ardent dog lover will find surprising about the animal who has for generations been mans (and womans) best friend.

And thats what this book is all aboutfinding those entertaining tidbits to make you smile, raise an eyebrow in surprise, and most of all, learn something new that will help you to love your dog even more, no matter what size, shape, or mix of dog you love.

The dog is perhaps the only animal who understands and shares that most basic of human expressionsthe smile. That means while youre smiling your way through this book, your dog will be enjoying it, too. So read onyoull both be happier for the fun and the facts we fellow dog lovers have packed inside these covers.

Dr. Marty Becker
Gina Spadafori

Canine vitals

A DOGS HEART NORMALLY beats between 70 to 180 times per minute, with little dogs having a faster heart rate. A puppy will also have a faster pulseup to 220 beats per minute. You can take your dogs pulse at home, by the way, but not by putting your fingertips on your dogs wrist as you would with a person. Instead, check the heart rate in one of two places:

Choice 1: Put your hand over your dogs left side, behind the front leg. Youll feel the heart pulsing beneath your fingers. (If you cant, you might talk to your veterinarian about getting some of the fat off your dog.)

Choice 2: Put your fingertips on the femoral artery, located on the inside of the back leg just where it meets the body, and right in the middle. (Its a pretty big blood vessel, so you shouldnt have any problem finding it.)

Either way, count the beats while fifteen seconds clicks off your watch; multiply by four to get the BPM, or beats per minute. Do it when your dog is healthy and relaxed, so youll know whats normal.

Normal canine body temperature is between 101.5 and 102 degrees, give or take a degree. You can use a traditional thermometer, or one of those newer ones that takes an electronic reading from the ear canal. (If you use the non-ear kind, be sure to take an indelible-ink marker and clearly write dog on the one you plan to use for your dog, so theres no confusion. You dont want something in your mouth that has been in your dogs fanny!)

Old Drums will never be forgotten

WHILE HUMANKIND AND DOGS have had a long and productive partnership, it wasnt until 1870 that the phrase mans best friend became part of dog lore. A dog named Old Drum had been shot to death, and in a courtroom speech worthy of a Hollywood classicwe see Gregory Peck in the rolecountry lawyer George Graham Vest left not a dry eye in the house while talking about the true value of a dog.

It worked. Old Drums owner won the case, and George Vest became so famous that he was later elected to the U.S. Senate.

The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog, said Vest in a Warrensburg, Missouri, court that day. No doubt he remembered those in the Senate later in his life.

Old Drum, by the way, has never been forgotten. In 1958, Warrensburg put up a statue to honor the memory of a good hunting hound who was one mans best friend to the end.

In later years, Vests tribute became one of the standards on sympathy cards sent out by veterinarians after a client lost a beloved pet. Playwright Eugene ONeills lovely 1940 tribute to his Dalmatian Blemie in The Last Will and Testament of Silverdene Emblem ONeill also became a favorite.

Save your dogs tagsthey may be valuable

PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS WANTED some way to get a roving dog home. And government authorities have always wanted a way to either put a property tax on a dog or, in later years, ensure that the animal was vaccinated against rabies. Dogs have been licensed for centuries, but the idea of a tag to signify that a dog was street legal seems to date to the late nineteenth century, when Cincinnati, Ohio, started issuing tags on an annual basis, and other cities and states soon followed suit.

Although wooden tags for soldiers were used in the U.S. Civil War to help identify the injured and the dead, it wasnt until World War I that American soldiers got metal tags as standard issue. The resemblance between the tags of soldiers and of dogsalong with a good dollop of droll military humorsoon had the new tags called dog tags, a term that sticks to this day. The way people love to collect things, its probably no surprise to anyone that theres an International Society of Animal License Collectors, and no small amount of buying and selling of tags on the Internet. Unfortunately, modern tags will be of little interest to future collectors. While governments used to issue some tags that were creative and downright adorableshaped like doghouses, acorns, police shields, and moretodays tags are the height of utilitarian design.

Thats why the old tags are valuable, with tags of whimsical appearance, decent condition, and age going for hundreds of dollars.

These records were no dogs

A HANDFUL OF HIT RECORDS referenced dogs in the titles, perhaps most notably the Elvis Presley 1956 cover of the blues song Hound Dog. But three years earlier, Patti Pages song (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window? topped the charts for eight weeks.

And how about a band named after a dog? The popular 70s hit-makers Three Dog Nightwho wished joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, but didnt say one word to the dogstook their name from Australian Aboriginal lingo, judging how cold a night was by how many dogs it took to snuggle with to stay warm.

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