July 2022

• A dog with normal hearing can locate the source of a sound in 1/600 of a second.

• Lassie received the first pet insurance policy issued in the United States in 1982.

• Dogs and bears share a common ancestor: the miacis, which lived about 62–34 million years ago and existed for about 28 million years. It is believed the miacis later evolved into the modern carnivorous mammals of the order Carnivora, suborder Caniformia. Modern dogs, coyotes, wolves, foxes, and jackals are all Caniforms.

• If never spayed or neutered, a female dog, her mate, and their puppies could theoretically produce 66,000 dogs in six years. If a female dog is spayed before her first heat, she will have a near zero chance of developing mammary cancer. Neutering can help prevent testicular and prostatic disease in male dogs, as well as behavior problems related to roaming.

• The pom-poms left around the ankles of groomed Poodles are called bracelets and were fashioned to help prevent them from getting rheumatism in their joints.