| Worlds largest dog
The worlds heaviest as well as longest dog ever recorded was an Old English Mastiff named
Zorba. In 1989, Zorba weighed 343 lbs and was 8 feet 3 inches long from nose to tail! I
use the past tense here because I don't have recent data on Zorba. Lets hope he is doing
well.
Worlds tallest dog
The tallest dog on record was named Shamgret Danzas. He was 42 inches tall (at the
shoulder!) and weighed 238 lbs.
Worlds smallest dog
The smallest dog in history was a tiny Yorkie from Blackburn, England. At two years of age
and fully grown this little dude was an incredible 2.5 inches tall by 3.75 inches long! He
weighed only 4 ounces! HE was approximately the size of a matchbox.
Worlds oldest dog
The oldest dog that has been reliably documented was an Australian cattle-dog named Bluey.
He was put to sleep at the age of 29 years and 5 months!
Worlds Best Drug Sniffing Dogs
A US Customs Labrador named "Snag" has made 118 drug seizures worth a canine
record $810 million.
The greatest number of drug seizures by dogs is 969 in 1988. IN ONE YEAR! The team of
"Rocky" and "Barco" patrolled the Texas and Mexico border, alias
"Cocaine Alley." They were so good that Mexican drug lords put a price of
$30,000 dollars on their heads.
Did You Know...
...that 25% of a dogs stool volume is shed intestinal epithelium?
...that all dogs, from the St. Bernard to the tiny Poodle, are direct descendants of
wolves. They can all breed together and produce fertile offspring. Technically they are of
the same species.
...that the belief that dogs chew grass to aid them in vomiting is probably false? Dogs
can very easily
regurgitate. In fact, after eating wolves can travel significant distances back to their
dens and
regurgitate the food at will to feed their pups!
...the common belief that dogs are color blind is false. Dogs can see color but it is not
as vivid a color scheme as we see. It is much like our vision at twilight.
...some authorities estimate that some dogs sense of olfaction (smelling) is as high as 1
million times
greater than ours.
Estimating Your Dogs Age
Since dogs lifespans are usually limited to 15-20 years it should be enough to say that a
2 year old dog is young, a 9 year old dog is middle aged, and a 14 year old dog is old,
etc. However, for some reason humans feel the need to anthropomorphize every thing that
relates to animals. I am guilty of it (check out the fastest cockroach on the insect
page). Since I will never be successful in my efforts to stop the needless
"humanization" of animals, I offer the following.
The classic "one dog year equals seven human years" formula has somehow crept
into our popular
culture. It is a very poor method for estimating your dogs "human age." It is
only accurate in the middle of the spectrum and does not take into account the upper and
lower ends of the scale. For example: A 1 year old dog has reached sexual maturity and for
all intents and purposes has reached its greatest height and length at this age. No one
would claim that a 7 year old child has reached sexual maturity and has stopped growing.
At the other end of the scale you must consider that dogs ROUTINELY live past the age of
15. That means in human terms most everyone would be living well into their hundreds! In
the case of the worlds oldest dog (29) he would be 203! There is a better method.
Use this formula:
The first year of a dogs life = 15 years.
The second year of a dogs life = 10 years.
Every year there after is equal to 3 "human years."
Example: A ten year old dog would be: 15 + 10 + (3 x 8) = 49!
A 15 year old dog would be: 15 + 10 + (3 x 13) = 64!
Happy calculating!
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