Maine Millers

I found this over on the Itchmo blog and there are many facts that I didn’t know. How about you?

1. It is a myth that dogs are color blind. They can actually see in color, just not as vividly as humans. It is akin to our vision at dusk.
2. Dogs DO have better low-light vision than humans because of a special light-reflecting layer behind their retinas
3. A German Shepherd guide dog led her blind companion the entire 2100 mile Applachian Trail
4. If never spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their puppies could product over 66,000 dogs in 6 years!
5. Dogs’ only sweat glands are between their paw pads
6. Like human babies, Chihuahuas are born with a soft spot in their skull which closes with age
7. The breed Lundehune has 6 toes and can close its ears
8. Teddy Roosevelt’s dog, Pete, ripped a French ambassador’s pants off at the White House
9. President Lyndon Johnson had two beagles named Him and Her
10. Franklin Roosevelt spent $15,000 for a destroyer to pick up his Scottie in the Aleutian Islands
11. In Roman times, mastiffs donned light armor and were sent after mounted knights
12. The Russians trained dogs during WWII to run suicide missions with mines strapped to their backs
13. A dog’s mouth exerts 150-200 pounds of pressure per square inch
14. … with some dogs exerting up to 450 pounds per squre inch.
15. A one year old dog is as mature, physically, as a 15 year old human
16. The U.S. has the highest dog population in the world
17. France has the 2nd highest
18. The average city dog lives 3 years longer than a country dog
19. 87% of dog owners say their dog curls up beside them or at their feet while they watch T.V.
20. Dogs can be trained to detect epileptic seizures
21. 15 people die in the U.S. every year from dog bites
22. In 2002 alone, more people in the U.S. were killed by dogs than by sharks in the past 100 years
23. Gidget is the name of the Taco Bell dog
24. Newfoundlands are great swimmers because of their webbed feet
25. Basset Hounds cannot swim
26. Greyhounds are the fastest dogs on earth, with speeds of up to 45 miles per hour
27. Bingo is the name of the dog on the side of the Cracker Jack box
28. The bible mentions dogs 14 times
29. Three dogs survived the sinking of the Titanic - a Newfoundland, a Pomeranian, and a Pekingese
30. The Labrador Retriever is the #1 favorite breed in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
31. Obesity is the #1 health problem among dogs
32. An estimated 1,000,000 dogs in the U.S. have been named as the primary beneficiaries in their owner’s will
33. An American Animal Hospital Assoc. poll found that 33% of dog owners admit to talking to their dogs on the phone and leaving answering machine messages for them while away
34. Dog’s nose prints are as unique as a human’s finger prints and can be used to accurately identify them
35. At the end of the Beatles’ song “A Day in the Life”, a high-pitched dog whistle was recorded by Paul McCartney for his sheepdog
36. 70% of people sign their pet’s name on greeting and holiday cards
37. 58% put pets in family and holiday portraits
38. There are only 350 Cisky Terriers in the world - perhaps the rarest breed
39. The phrase “raining cats and dogs” originated in 17th century England when it is believed that many cats and dogs drowned during heavy periods of rain.
40. Dogs have no sense of “time”
41. Humans have kept dogs as pets for over 12,000 years
42. The largest breed of dog is the Irish Wolfhound
43. The world’s smallest dog breed is the Chihuahua
44. The St. Bernard is the heaviest
45. Only dogs and humans have prostates
46. But dogs do not have an appendix
47. Every dog on earth likely descended from a species knows as the Tomarctus - a creature that roamed the earth over 15 million years ago
48. The oldest known breed is likely the Saluki - originally trained by Egyptians to help them track game.
49. In 1957, Laika became the first living being in space via an earth satellite
50. … while JFK’s terrir, Charlie, father 4 puppies with Laika’s daughter
51. An African wolf dog known as the basenji is the only dog in the world that cannot bark
52. There are 703 breeds of purebred dogs
53. Dachshunds were originally bred for fighting badgers
54. The world’s smartest dogs are thought to be (1) the border collie, (2) the poodle, and (3) the golden retriever
55. … while the dumbest dog is believed to be the Afghan hound
56. A dog’s smell is more than 100,000 times stronger than that of a human’s
57. … which they need because their eyesight is not as keen as a human’s.
58. Dogs judge objects first by their movement, then by their brightness, and lastly by their shape
59. Chocolate contains a substance known as theobromine (similar to caffeine) which can kill dogs or at the very least make them violently ill
60. George Washington had thirty six dogs - all foxhounds - with one named Sweetlips
61. All dogs are identical in anatomy - 321 bones and 42 permanent teeth
62. Smaller breeds mature faster than larger breeds
63. Female dogs are only ready to mate - “in heat” - twice a year for a total of roughly 20 days
64. Puppies sleep ninety percent of the day for their first few weeks
65. Rin Tin Tin was the first Hollywood dog star
66. … and he really signed his movie contracts - all 22 of them - with a pawprint
67. The Wizard of Oz’s Toto was played by a female Cairn Terrier named Terry
68. Up until the late 1800’s, Collies were known as Scottish Sheepdogs
69. Dogs have two times as many muscles to move their ears as people
70. The longer a dog’s nose, the more effective it’s internal cooling system
71. An elderly woman was saved by her 12 pound Yorkshire Terrier who fought off an 80 pound Akita and survived with only 9 stitches
72. U.S. Customs dogs “Rocky” and “Barco” were so good at patrolling the border that Mexican drug lords put a $300,000 bounty on their heads
73. Dogs are all direct descendants of wolves
74. Wolves and dogs can mate to produce fertal offspring
75. Female wolves have been known to travel great distances to regurgitate full meals for their hungry pups
76. Cerberus was the tri-headed dog that guarded the underworld in Greek mythology
77. Female dogs bear their young for 60 days before they’re born
78. Dogs’ sense of hearing is more than ten times more acute than a human’s
79. Humans can detect sounds at 20,000 times per second, while dogs can sense frequencies of 30,000 times per second.
80. The earliest dog fossil dates back to nearly 10,000 B.C.
81. Bloodhounds are prized their ability to single out and identify a number of scents simultaneously
82. Dalmatian puppies are born completely white.
83. The Ancient Chinese carried Pekingese puppies in the sleeves of their robes
84. Boxers are so named because of their manner of playing with their front paws
85. All breeds of dog have been found to attack livestock - from 3 month old puppies, all the way up to thirteen year old poodles
86. A dog’s heart beats up to 120 times per minute, or 50% faster than the average human heartbeat of 80 times per minute
87. The oldest dog on record - a Queensland “Heeler” named Bluey - was 29 years, 5 months old
88. Davy Crockett had a dog named Sport
89. Dogs were first domesticated by cavemen
90. Dogs live 15 years on average
91. Many foot disorders inn dogs are simply an issue of long toenails
92. More than 5,000,000 puppies are born in the U.S. every year
93. More than 1 in 3 American families own a dog
94. Average body temperature for a dog is 101.2 degrees
95. The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts both offer merit badges in dog care
96. Dogs are natural pack animals
97. They are naturally submissive to any creature with higher pack status - human or canine
98. Dogs instinctively require the pack leader’s approval
99. Dogs with little human contact in the first three months typically don’t make good pets
100. The Chihuahua was named after the state in Mexico where they were discovered
101. After birth, puppies’ eyes do not fully open until they’re about 12 days old
102. Their vision is not fully developed until after the 1st month

Today was Scout’s first try at doggie daycare.  I thought it would do him some good to go once a week and get really tuckered out.  That was an understatement!  He is exhausted.

I dropped him off at 8:15 this morning and picked him up at 5:00 tonight.  It was like playing at the Bowdoin fields all day instead of just an hour.  There were 6 or 7 dogs there and I guess he did a good job getting a year old yellow lab, Mario, who doesn’t play much to play quite a bit today.  He has just been flopping on the floor tonight, this will be interesting if we continue.  I think more than once a week will be too much for him right now but this will sure take the edge off.  We’ll see what tomorrow is like.

The field is close to 15 acres, the mud puddle is about 8 feet in diameter, why does Scout feel the need to find it and dive in on his belly?  I don’t think we were outside for more than 10 minutes and he just dropped into the mud, and it was clumpy mud to boot.  He was black from the belly down.  Oh well, that’s the way he is sometimes.  It was a beautiful day so he was able to just hang out on the deck and dry off today.  Of course he could have been like Cody, another Aussie that is just a few months younger than Scout.  Cody felt the need to roll all the way around in the mud and then he proceeded to jump on his owner who was wearing white pants.  I guess it’s one of the small prices to pay for having a dog live with you

Michele was off today and I went in to work to find the third day without power due to the nor’easter we had this week. Anyway, I got a call from Michele telling me that since I was coming back home anyway she needed a BIG coffee. She got up early to make the kids a coffee cake. When she left the room to give Clementine some food, someone who has four feet, decided to become a flour child. Scout had gotten up on the counter and pulled a piece of wax paper with four cups of flour onto the floor, no photos but lots of mess. Needless to say someone is in the proverbial doghouse today.

It’s been a lazy couple of days here in Maine. We got hammered by an April nor’easter that was pretty interesting. Trees down, lots and lots of rain, and heavy winds yesterday some in the 40-50 mph range. Scout and I just hung out. I was sick so didn’t do too much and he was happy to just lie on the bed with me and sleep most of the time. We did venture out a few times since someone needs to relieve himself outside, grateful for that He would just stand there and point his face into the wind and inhale deeply. It was quite interesting to watch him try to get the scent of something, no idea what though. The walks were brief and fast since it was cold and wet for me, he didn’t care in the slightest, that’s a dog for you. The two photos are a very large tree branch that came down on the neighbors utility wires and is still there 2 days later (close to 100,000 still without power as of this afternoon). The other photo is of our back yard, apparently we have waterfront property, shhh don’ t tell the state or they will raise our taxes. It might be a bad mosquito season again if we can get past the mud season.

I wore him out this weekend It’s been a few weeks since we went to play with the other dogs at Bowdoin and this weekend we went twice. He has been laying around most of the day yesterday and today. This is on top of spending a week with friends while we were in Maryland. They have two dogs, a cat, fish, two kids, and Scout for a week. We’re sorry.

Close to 80 degrees in MD and got off the plane and it was 38 degrees. Now we have snow again, 12 inches on Thursday, maybe it will stop in time for the leaves to change colors? At least playing in the snow is more work than playing in the grass. You can see the dogs all lifting their legs higher as they run. We went for a walk around the block tonight and he did really well with the leash pulling and chewing, maybe it was being tired and just going out for a short trip was all he needed. Hopefully we will start agility soon and that will also help wear him out mentally as well as physically

I am learning how to customize this s-l-o-w-l-y.

This morning I managed to change the header above to make it more ours and hopefully more enhancements will come.  I have also set up a photo gallery at http://photos.mainemillers.com to host the photos.  It’s still in the testing phase but feel free to look about.  I hope to eventually integrate the two sites together.

Today I went to LP Bisson’s Farm and Meat Market in Topsham, ME to pick up some steaks for dinner. They have some of the freshest meat since the cows are right behind the market. Anyway I asked the butcher if they have any bones for dogs and his reply was “of course we do, I’ll be right back.” He came back from the walk in cooler and handed me a bag of bones and said that if you buy meat here the bones are on the house.

Scout was pretty happy when we got home today. I had to send him outside on the deck to chew on it since it was pretty nasty and really didn’t want it in the house until he cleaned off the meat. I have 4 more of them in the freezer so Scout should have a grand time this spring working them clean!

Michele got Scout a new toy today.  I told her no more toys for Scout unless you find the gnawhide rings for the Bouncy Bone that he got last week.  Well she found the rings and used the opportunity to get him a new toy, the Tug-a-Jug.  It's a dangerous toy that includes this caution label:

Caution:

If your dog is especially active in swinging

this toy by it's rope, the jug could cause

damage to furniture or injury to other pets

or persons.  Use common sense and supervise use. 

He likes the toy but chewed through the rope in less than a hour.  I replaced that with another rope and he chewed through that one in about 5 minutes.  I am starting to call him scissor teeth .  No more ropes for him.  He can still play with the bottle the way it is and try to get treats out but no more swinging it around . 

It was recommended over at A Dog's Life to try out the Bouncy Bone and I have to say that it's a hit!  Scout really likes it although the gnawhide rings don't last as long as I would like, really just about 5-10 minutes but the bone is being chewed .  It almost ranks up there with the Squirrel Dude for fun attention.  

Thanks to Nancy Friedman-Smith for the product review.  Keep it up!