Pawsitively Fascinating! Amazing Canine Facts - Volume 1

This episode introduces the first set of our many volumes of canine facts  that will be certain to enlighten, entertain and amaze you regarding your very best friend. Many more to come in future episodes! 

Transcript

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Grab your cup, hug your pup, and join us for Peace in the Pack's Canine Coffee Talk. Hi, I'm Nancy T, your canine behavioral specialist, owner of Peace in the Pack, and I'm so glad you're joining us for our podcast once again today. Well, you know how we used to dip into that treat jar every now and again? I do miss that. I want to bring that back a little more frequently. You know, learning those golden little tidbits of information about our dogs. And of course, our dogs get real treats in the process. Well, when we're gonna be doing all that today. Today it's nothing but dipping into that treat jar, and I know my dogs right now are happy. So the premise is we hear that treat jar turning, that lid turning, and we give our special best friends a treat, and then we learn tons of stuff about our dogs, our own kind of treats, a special tidbit of knowledge about our very best canine friends. So I have my Paxy and Penny right here. Grab your very best friend or friends. We have their special favorite treats as well, as we dip into our own treat jar here, and we learn some amazing facts about our very best friends. So let's get right into it. Oh, there's that familiar sound. Treat time. There you go. One for you, Paxy. One for you, Pen. Got my latte right here. Time for a sip before we begin. And let's proceed. Dog treat facts. Coming up. We should do like part one, part two, volume one, volume two, volume five, I don't know. There's just so many. And the best part of it is I am just fascinated, not only in my work with the dogs, of course, but in the teaching aspect and the research aspect. There's so much we learn every single year. As they always say, they always teach us. And that just ties into the different facts we'll be learning today. Let's start off with something completely random. Sweaty paws. It's a strange way to begin. But let's start there. Do you know dogs don't sweat over their bodies like humans do? Instead, they sweat through their paw pads. Now a lot of people say, I've never seen that. Why would we, right? Because it's underneath. It has to pick up their paws to realize that. But in times of stressful situations, you know, if the dog goes to the vet or a dog's in a very anxious situation or issue that they're dealing with, if you take a look at the bottom of their paws, you'll feel some moisture there. That's because they're sweating through their paw pads. Not common knowledge for most people because A, they just don't experience it. And B, they don't think to check that. Hearing. Did you know that dogs can hear at frequencies up to 65,000 Hertz? While we humans only hear up to 20,000 Hertz. So this is why our dogs are so super sensitive in so many situations, especially outdoors. That's a big chunk of my work is trying to desensitize noise. Well, if you can imagine, if they're genetically hardwired to pick up way more than we can or do, then of course they're going to be super, super sensitive to our noises. And they're stimulated by so much. They're picking up everything all at once outside. That's a lot of stimulation, a lot of oversensory stimulation out there. But even in the homes, people wonder why, you know, if you put your keys down or the door closes or creaks a certain way, fireworks, all those things that have noises that almost sound invasive to our dogs. But it's not just that that frightens them because it's somewhat intrusive, but it's also the pitch, the frequency, and the vibration. They're picking all that up and at a much higher hertz than we do. So we have to factor all that in as we understand and work with our dogs. Super sense of smell, we all know this one, right? But it doesn't hurt to reevaluate it. Dogs have up to 300 million scent receptors compared to just six million in humans. That's hugely different. Then they dedicate 40 times more brain power to analyzing odors because honestly, that's their data. That's their first go-to sense. With us, primarily, it's our eyes and then our ears. And some people, the more auditory. I'm very auditory, to be honest with you, because in my work prior to this, I was in broadcasting and I did a lot of work in music. I did a lot of voiceovers. So I'm very tuned to to sound. But predominantly, and so it depends on our work and what we've kind of honed in our lives. But naturally, for humans, it's usually eyes and then ears. But like I said, sometimes people can alternate between the two, but no matter what, humans don't go to their nose first, right? We might have a stronger predominant feeling for eyes versus ears or vice versa, or equal, but usually never a nose first. But that's the way a dog operates. That's the way a dog thinks. That's how they come into the world. Their first sense of scent is their mother and siblings. And that's how they learn and navigate the world when they're born blind and deaf. So that's how strong this is. And I can't stress enough how scent is so hugely important in their rehabilitation. Where they're learning any kind of new skills, or giving them a sense of confidence or self-esteem. We're back to balance. Always use their sense of scent because it's just a fact that they have up to 300 million scent receptors. Us, we have six million. Gigantic gap right there. Now, of course, it can vary bit by bit through uh breeds, but very little. That's the predominant general amount. Intelligence level, you heard me say it before. I there's not a dog that is dumb. Every dog is intelligent, every dog can teach. But the average dog, average intelligence, putting a generality on it, after all research, is compared to a two-year-old. Uh, they can learn hundreds and hundreds of words and gestures. And I say hundreds because it is limitless. We know of Chaser who set the bar years ago, the Border Collie, was a female, I believe, and she learned over 2,000 words. Over 2,000. But um amazing, amazing. So there's no limit, guys. You know, but we have to put some generalities. There is no limit. Yes, it was a border collie that showed us poodles, border collision and shepherds. They are the ones who are sort of like frontliners when it comes to doing research. But to be honest, I've yet to meet a dumb dog. And I've worked from Chinese crested pugs all the way up to bull mastiffs, kind of cursos, great Danes, and everybody in between. There is no dumb dog. So everybody can learn, everybody can do something. But the the two-year-old mentality, guys, listen to this the way I the way I look at it. That is amazing. Because do you know that when it comes to humans, for a two-year-old toddler, they're the most insatiable they'll ever be in their entire life. So that means per data information, they'll never learn as much as quickly and insatiably. They have such extraordinary cognitive skills and abilities to rapidly pick things up because they need to. And a brain that has twice as many synapses as an adult, enabling toddlers to learn faster at that age than any other point in their life, even as an adult. Any other point. You could have master's upon master's degree later in life, but you'll never be able to take in that information that rapidly in mass as when you were two years old. So comparing a dog to a two-year-old is pretty genius, actually, because that's taking in a lot of data and a lot of info and a lot of stimulus. So that's very intelligent for our dogs to be, and that's why they respond to us so quickly. Okay, unique noseprint. Do you know that just like a human fingerprint, a dog's noseprint is as individual as unique as they are? That's right. A dog's noseprint is extremely unique. One does not match another, just like a human fingerprint. It defines your individual dog. That is so cool. And their noseprint, just like our human fingerprints, can be used for their specific identification. It identifies exactly who they are. One of a kind. So very true. We already know that. Dogs dreaming. Dogs experience REM sleep and often dream, indicated by twitching, whimpering, or paddling their legs while asleep. We've all seen that. One of those things, or all of those things, in at least one of our dogs, if not all of our dogs, throughout their lifetime. I know my Greyhound does it, my Pax and my hero have done it with the legs going because I do believe that they love to run and they do believe they're running. And now it's been proven that a lot of times, just like us, they will dream about events in their day or in the course of their life. Because yes, dogs have memory. So they can retain information when it comes to memory. So yeah, that proves it right there that they will relive that in the course of their sleep. So of course, if there's a stressful situation, unfortunately that can also come up. But they are dreaming about their day. So yes, dogs have memory, and they can relate that to their dream state. So let's give them good days and good memories and good feelings to relive at night so they have good dreams instead of nightmares. Here's another one, another treat for us. Their noses, their wet noses, help absorb scent chemicals for better tracking. We all know our dogs how we how they are with their noses, and we just explained why with the 300 over 300 million scent receptors. But you've seen a dog tracking and you've seen those working dogs who can track, and even her beagles, they just love to track anything and everything, right? They're all about the nose. Some dogs more than others are just genetically hardwired, especially our hunters. They all have that skill, but certain breeds are genetically hardwired to really use their nose, just even more in test behavior. And that is good because it does keep a dog in balance. But the wet nose actually absorbs the scent chemicals and helps them to better track their prey or whatever they're looking for. It's pretty amazing. They can detect scents at concentrations 100 million times lower than humans. So things that we have no idea. There was one example years ago that it would be similar if we had a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic sized pool. Could you imagine? Dogs can smell that and detect where that is. We would have absolutely not no. Could you imagine? Spoonful of sugar in an Olympic-sized pool, we're done. We have no idea. And a dog can detect that. So yeah, it makes sense. They detect sense at concentrations 100 million times lower than humans. That's an amazing fact right there. In our next set of facts on another podcast, we'll talk about their continuous breathing skills too, with their side slit exhalation. That's another whole thing. We'll get into that in part two. Did you know they also have 18 muscles controlling their ears for directional hearing? Yeah. 18 muscles. Our dogs have different types of ears. They have the stand-up ears, they have the flop over ears, they have the little half-flop over ears, right? Depending on the breed. 18 muscles that control their ears. Compared to our, like what? Two? Two muscles needed since we don't move our ears. But remember, not only are they using them to locate the exact pitch and direction of sound, they also use their ears to communicate as best they can with them as well. Multi-functioning ears. Those muscles are needed. But just remember this when it comes to ears, speaking of those flop over ears, make sure they're dry, guys. Any dog that does not have the stand-up ears, please make sure if your dog is wet or you're grooming them, they're inside of their ears are dry. Cocker spaniels are notorious for that. And here's my favorite. Dogs release oxytocin, the love hormone. Yep. Whenever they're interacting with someone they love. Whether it's within their species or with humans, it doesn't matter. It's a hormone and neurotransmitter that reduces stress and anxiety, and it's naturally released in moments of affection. It facilitates social bonding and trust, and it's dubbed the love hormone. For both people and dogs. It's when a mom looks at her child, or a mom looks at her newborn baby, or when family members hug. Or someone looks at someone they're in love with, human-wise, right? But our dogs also experience that from mother to puppy, and also from dog to dog, and from dog to human. So when your dog looks at you and gives you that look, sometimes I'll get that question, what is he thinking, Nancy? What do you think? And he's gazing up at you lovingly. He truly is gazing up at you lovingly. Okay? Because the oxytocin is released, and that is the love hormone. Thank you for joining us for part one of Unleashing the Truth of Our Positively Fascinating Canine Facts. Join us for part two coming up on a future podcast. Don't forget to follow us and check in when my classes will begin on Udemy, by the way. Amazing classes that you could take at your own convenience. So check back here and also on my website at peaceinthepack.com. We'll talk to you again soon. Our podcasts run every other week. Looking forward to sipping our coffee and petting our best friends and learning some amazing things about them. Oh, and don't forget to give your best friend a hug for me. So check back soon. In the meantime, do your best to create peace in your pack. And remember, peace changes everything. Take care.