Big dogs, small dogs, dumb and smart

The following text is originally lifted from the trivia section of The Jakarta Post dated Tuesday, 26 August 2007.

~Compiled from various sources~

• The border collie is the smartest dog, the afghan is the dumbest.
• The ridge along the back of the Rhodesian ridgeback is made up of forward-growing hairs.
• The Irish wolfhound stands 75 to 90 cm at the top of the shoulders and weighs 45 to 55 kg.
• The labrador retriever was once called "St John's Newfoundland".
• Although human noses have an impressive five million olfactory cells with which to smell, sheepdogs have 220 million, enabling them to smell 44 times better than man.
• In 1804, Australia issued a proclamation ordering the destruction of all dogs except greyhounds and sheepdogs.
• The dalmatian dog originate from Dalmatian coast of Croatia.
• Dalmatians are born pure white; they don't start getting spots until they are three or four days old/
• The dalmatian is the only dog that gets gout.
• Inbreeding causes three out of every 10 dalmatians to suffer from hearing disability.
• The chihuahua stands 15 to 22 cm at the top of the shoulders and weighs only one to three kg.
• The dachshund is the smallest breed of hunting dog. It is low to the ground, which allows it to enter and manoeuvre thru tunnels easily.
• The cocker spaniel is the smallest member of the sporting dog family.
• The pug is one of the oldest breeds of dog, having flourished since before 400 BC.
• Pugs were kept as pets at Buddhist monasteries in Tibet.
• The pug was the official dog of the House of Orange in Holland after one of the breed saved the life of the crown prince; the dog appears in the effigy of the monarch over William's tomb.
• The wrinkles on a pug's forehead were thought by the Chinese to resemble the character for prince.
• Though called Mopshond (to grumble) in Holland and Carlin in France, the name "pug" probably comes from the dog's facial expression, which is similar to that of the marmoset monkeys that were popular pets of the early 1700s and known as pugs.
• The sled dogs running in Alaska's annual Iditarod race burn an average of 10,000 calories daily.
• Every known dog breed except the chow has a pink tongue. Its is black.
• Chinese crested dogs can get acne.
• The Basenji does not bark but makes yodelling noises.
• When a wolf howls it is either marking its territory, telling other wolves to stay away, trying to find a lost wolf from the pack or looking for a mate.
• Jackals have one more pair of chromosomes than dogs or wolves.
• More carnivorous than other hyenas, the spotted hyena eats everything but rumen contents and horn bosses of biggest antelope. Bones, horns, hooves and even teeth are digested within 24 hours.
• The spotted hyena spends a large part of day lying down, the rest hunt and foraging. It can travel up to 40 km/day.