Dog Myths vs Fact

Today I will be going over a couple of myths about dogs and either disproving them or showing facts to prove them right.

Myth: Dog’s age seven times faster than humans
Someone looked at the average lifespan of dog’s vs the average lifespan of humans and then made an estimate of seven years to compare the two it’s just an oversimplified rate at which dog’s age.

Fact: Dogs obviously age faster than humans but the rate at which they grow is different for example they are faster at a younger age but seem to slow down as they get older like a one-year-old dog is the same as a human teenager, but an 8-year-old dog is the same as a middle-aged human. Most importantly the size and breed of the dog influence the growth rate, for example, small breeds of dogs like Terriers tend to live 15-20 years, and larger breed dogs such as Great Danes have a shorter life span such as 7 -10 years.

Myth: Dogs see in black and white
This myth started way back in the day before they had a full understanding of how eyes work.

Fact: In reality they do see colours but not in full range of colours they kind of see like someone who is red/green colour blind, so they see primarily in blue greenish yellow and various shades of grey

Myth: A warm or dry nose means a dog is sick.
How it began – The origin of how it actually began is, but it is most likely associated with canine distemper which was quite prevalent back in the day the symptoms of this disease included thickening of the foot pads and the nose which would lead to the nose looking very dry.

Fact: A dog’s nose is not a direct indicator of your dog’s health. For example, if your dog has just woken up his/her nose may appear dry, but that does not mean he/she is sick with that being said though if the dry nose persist it may be a sign of illness, and you should see your vet.

Written by: Colin Huard, ACA