Dogs: 40 Cool Friendly Facts About Man’s Best Friend

When the TV show "Frasier" was at its most popular, Moose (the dog who played Eddie) received more fan mail than any of the human characters

2. Bomb and Drug-sniffing dogs will eventually develop psychological problems if they never find any, and must occasionally be taken on dummy missions to satisfy their 'prey-drive.'

3. The price of admission for a zoo in 18th century England was a dog or a cat -- they were fed to the lions.

4. The Canary Islands were named after the Latin word for dog (Canariae Insulae, “Island of Dogs”). It is the canary birds who are named after the island, not the other way around.

5. An African Wild Dog named Solo, after losing her entire pack to a lion ambush, exhibited unprecedented behavior by forming a surrogate pack including a Hyena with whom she would typically want to kill, and a family of Black-backed Jackals, with pups that she treated as her own.

A blind man named Albert Rizzi was kicked off a US Airways flight after his service dog repositioned itself several times during a 2-hour delay. The passengers demanded that he be let back on and the flight attendant responsible be kick off instead. The flight was eventually canceled.

7. Humans' and Dogs' brains have evolved to understand each others' vocalizations to some degree, including dogs understanding human laughter.

8. During 8 years living in a UK animal shelter, a dog named Jasmine was a ‘surrogate mother’ to over 50 rescued animals; including puppies, foxes, 4 badger cubs, 15 chicks, 8 guinea pigs, 15 rabbits, a deer and a goose. She nursed each with affection, taking care of them as soon as they arrived.

9. Blind people can get issued a guide horse. Miniature horses are used instead of guide dogs if the person is, for example, afraid of, or allergic to, dogs.

10. There is a territory in Costa Rica called Territorio De Zaguates (Land of the Strays) which is basically a huge no-kill dog shelter where you can hike for free with the dogs

Napoleon Bonaparte was once moved to tears by the grief of a dog who he found sitting with its owner's body

12. There are 'porn sniffing dogs' that are trained to find hidden thumb drives, hard drives and SD cards for child pornography cases. One such dog was used to help bring down Jared Fogle.

13. In the first study to show the hormonal bonding between humans and another species, it was found that staring into your dog's eyes causes a rise in oxytocin - the same hormone that bonds human mothers to infants.

14. If a female dog grows in the womb between two male dogs, she may turn out to be a "tomboy" due to testosterone exposure and demonstrate masculine behaviors such as lifting her leg to pee.

15. The Ancient Romans had a method for choosing the best puppies out of a litter which involved surrounding a litter with an oil-soaked string and setting it on fire. The mother dog would jump over the ring of flames and rescue each puppy one by one, it was believed, in order of their merit.

When Adolf Hitler decided to commit suicide, he fed some cyanide to his dog to make sure it worked. His private nurse later said that the people in the bunker were more distraught by the death of his dog than that of his wife, Eva Braun.

17. In 2012 a Pit Bull named Lilly pulled her unconscious owner from the path of an oncoming freight train. The driver said he saw the dog frantically pulling at the woman, not giving up even though the train didn’t stop in time. The dog saved the woman and survived impact injuries herself.

18. The marathon of the 1904 Olympics had many bizarre events including someone driving to the finish line and pretending to win, someone winning by using rat poison as a stimulant, someone taking a nap and still finishing 4th, and someone being chased a mile off course by aggressive dogs.

19. A Russian child named Ivan Mishukov lived with a pack of dogs for two years after he gave the dogs food. In return, the dog pack protected him and made him pack-leader. He later relearned language and served in the Russian Army.

20. When confronted by police, a man took his pit bull off the leash, pointed at the cops and yelled: “Kill’em boy, kill’em.” The dog responded by biting him in the butt and chasing him into a nearby apartment where the officers promptly arrested him.

When he was a student at Trinity College, Lord Byron was so infuriated that pet dogs were banned that he acquired a tame bear. He argued that as bears weren’t specifically mentioned in their rules, there were no legal grounds for complaint. Lord Byron eventually won the argument.

22. During the filming of 'Snow Buddies' Disney imported 20 under-aged golden retriever puppies. Because they weren't vaccinated most of the dogs contracted parvo. Five puppies died during the making of the film.

23. It is illegal for pet stores in Beverly Hills to sell dogs and cats that are not from a shelter or rescue.

24. In the 19th century Germany there was a man who was both the local tax collector and caretaker of the dog pound. Since tax collecting was a dangerous job, he used the pound to make a new breed a dog that would protect him while collecting. His name, Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann.

25. The Alaskan Malamute became the state dog of Alaska after a 3-year campaign and legislative process that started with a kindergartner asking the question, "Why doesn't Alaska have a state dog."