And today, we have another great gift for dog lovers!
DISCLOSURE:All prizes and review samples in Lulu's Countdown to Christmas Giveaway were provided for free, but no other compensation was provided. All opinions are my own.
We all love our doggies, right? What do you know about dogs? Here's some fun facts.
Kristine Paulus, via Flickr Creative Commons
The American Kennel Club recognizes 180 breeds of dog. But there are another 66 breeds in miscellaneous breeds or foundation stock service.
62 percent of households in the U.S. own at least one dog.
Pet spending in the U.S. for 2013: $55.7 billion.
20 percent: the number of dogs adopted from shelters.
33 percent: Dog owners who talk to their dogs over the phone, even leaving them voice messages.
More Dogs live in the U.S. than in any other country.
Dog anatomy
Dogs sweat through their foot pads.
Dogs have about 1,700 tastebuds, while humans have 9,000.
Dogs are not colorblind. They just don't see colors as vividly as we do.
Dogs can see in the dark thanks to a special membrane in their eyes.
Dog eyes also have a third eyelid which keeps the eyes moist and protected from dirt.
Bloodhounds have 300 million scent receptors, beagles have around 200 million. Humans have around 5 million.
Doggy Smarts
The average dog can understand at least 250 words and gestures. Chaser the border collie purportedly knows over 1,000.
According to American Kennel Club, a dog's intelligence is based on trainability (us beagle lovers know better).
Dognition helps owners better understand their dogs and their level of intelligence.
Pekingnese dogs were bred to be dog guards for the Chinese emperor. Smaller pekingnese were also kept in the sleeves as a last line of defense.
Dogs can smell cancer, studies show.
The smaller a dog is, the more likely they are to dream.
Dogs can be left or right handed. Dog puzzle inventor and trainer Nina Ottosson says some dogs are also "paw dogs" and some are "mouth dogs," referring to how they attempt to solve puzzles.
I had not heard this before until I started researching this. Beagles smell! I asked what they smelled like. People couldn't tell me exactly why beagles were such smelly doggies. They all say their beagles smell fine.
Was it a case of we've all lived with the stench so long that we don't notice it?
Well here's the deal -- we don't necessarily wash beagles as much. In my unscientific survey of beagle parents, I discovered most maybe wash their beagle once a month, if that. Some wash them every couple of months unless they roll in something!
Thundershirt means I can roll in the grass more!
Now, every dog does have a certain smell. Ever see dogs sniff each others' butts? They secrete that smell in their anal glands. That's where the smell is strongest.
But that smell can also be found in fur follicles. It's a chemical ID, like a fingerprint. For beagles, some experts say that smell is stronger because beagles developed it to help identify other members of their pack while hunting.
I do notice that if the dogs are running around and get dirty Lulu will have a stronger smell than other dogs, but it's nothing to worry about.
So what about bathing? Well, if you bathe a beagle too much you can strip their skin of natural oils. That can lead to irritation and itchiness. I leave it up to you how long you go between baths. Lulu gets bathed once a month. I don't want to go too long because I don't want too much oil and dirt to build up on her skin either.
I got it at Petco. It massages the soap deeper into the skin. The dogs love the feel of it. Then, it's really important to rinse and dry well.
In between baths, makes sure to brush your dog to keep the coat nice and soft and shiny. I use a Furminator. It does an amazing job of grooming and de-shedding (yes, beagles do shed).
My doggies don't smell! At least no one's told me they do. :)
From the front of their black nose to the white tip of their tail, beagles are nothing if not eclectic dogs. They're silly, playful, brilliant, conniving, loud and loveable.
Whether you are a new beagle parent, or a seasoned beagle pro, there are some fun things about beagles that you may (or may not) realize.
So with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, I'm starting a new series:
This week, we are talking the nose!
You know your dog is a beagle if...
1)Their head is made for smellin'. The big black nose. The floppy ears. That mouth. Put it together and you have the beagle super power. (My problem is Lulu often uses her super power for evil, not good)
Plus, beagles have some 225 million olfactory cells. Few dog breeds have that
many scent receptors, even though they have tens of millions more than
us people. There's a great article in Psychology Today
on it. And they can store a smell like we store movies on a DVR.
Combine those cells with the additional attributes, and you have a lean, mean sniffing machine.
2)The nose almost never stops.
When do you see the nose stop? When they're eating or sleeping. And sometimes not even then. They are constantly sensing something in the air.
Or on the ground!
3) The Force is with them. Tell me you've never had something similar happen. I step out of the door to walk Lulu, and I have to go right back in because she immediately starts howling. But you see NOTHING OUTSIDE.
So if Lulu smells something and starts howling, it's because she immediately senses the presence of something she has sniffed before, and it's something she wants to draw attention to.
With Lulu, normally it's a dog. And I won't be able to see the dog, and Lulu probably didn't see the dog either, but she knows it passed this way. She can also tell be sniffing the ground.
4)Tracking a scent is more important than peeing (even though she REALLY had to do it a moment ago). Ever seen "Up!"? You know the scene where Dug is talking to the humans, and then all of a sudden he goes "Squirrel!"? Beagles are great at getting distracted, and that distraction is often about a scent they feel they need to track.
But they are also stubborn, and the two can be a bad combination. A beagle on the scent trail will sometimes tune out everything else -- including their handler. A beagle left outside to their own device will follow a scent to its logical conclusion -- which can be miles from its starting point.But another, more enticing scent can also distract a beagle.
This is why you don't see as many search and rescue beagles. But they DO exist. Animal Planet has an awesome video of a search and rescue beagle squad in San Diego for theirSmall Dogs, Big Jobs series.
The handler in the Animal Planet video, Pam Medhurst, has her own YouTube channel with some cool training videos as well, like this one with her dog Snickers.
5) When they track what they are after, watch out! Ever heard of Beagle Brigades? They can be found at airports in several countries around the world. The beagles are on the hunt for food, plants and other things that should not be coming through Customs. By doing so, they are protecting America's crops and livestock.
This is Thunder. In 2011, his handler wrote this post on the USDA blog about being a member of the Beagle Brigade. There's a whole training center for the dogs, which come from rescue groups and shelters all over the country. And when they're retired, they are found forever homes.
So the best thing to do with your sniffer is channel their energies with a little training. You can't shut off the nose, so you just need to work with it. Carry around treats that are more enticing than whatever the dog can sniff. Not all beagles will respond, but many will.
You can also incorporate it into play. Take a tracking course, which involves ground scenting. And it's an AKC-sanctioned event, so you can compete with dogs all over the country. You can also try field trials or beagling, but those are really meant for real hunters.
Do you have any suggestions for dealing with a beagle's nose? Let us know in the comments section! Also -- got any beagle quirks you want us to talk about? Tell us!
