I like snow and taking the dogs for walks in it. Especially when I come back to an open fire.
That brings me to my first dog curiosity. My old greyhound (13+ years) has arthritis and a heart murmur. Yet she loves the snow. We've taken her for two long walks in the snow (she wears 2 fleece-lined coats to keep her warm). Both times she was energetic and bright-eyed.
When she goes out into the garden she stays out for ages - even at 2 o'clock in the morning! She enjoys it and that's what matters.
Patron of Dogs and Those Who Love Them
Did you know that there is a Patron Saint for Dogs?
It is St. Roch , whose Feast Day is August 16
While on pilgrimage Roch came across an area afflicted with plague. He stayed to minister to the sick, and affected several miraculous cures, usually by making the sign of the cross over them, but contracted the plague himself. He walked into a forest to die, but was befriended by a dog. The dog fed him with food stolen from his master’s table, and Roch eventually recovered.
Did you know that Hazel is a protector of animals (and therefore dogs). I read this on an info board while on a woodland walk. (Haven't found any reference to this on the internet.)
Some Well-Known Quotations about Dogs
"The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead
of his tongue."
- Anonymous
"If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise."
- Unknown
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where
they went."
- Will Rogers
"A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three
times before lying down.
-Robert Benchley
"Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend; inside of a
dog, it's too dark to read."
- Groucho Marx
"If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I
have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons."
- James Thurber
More Doggy Trivia
- Bloodhounds have been used since the 1600's for tracking criminals.
- The Basenji dog is the only dog that is not able to bark.
- Dogs can't see colors. They're color blind.
- Dogs sweat only through their tongues.
- The greyhound is the world's fastest dog reaching speeds of nearly 42 miles per hour.
- If you were to remove the scent receptors from a dog's nose and lay them out flat, they would cover an area greater than the dog itself.
- Dalmatian puppies do not have any spots on them when they are born. They actually develop them as they get older.
- The largest dog in the world is the Irish Wolfhound.
- Two dogs survived the sinking of the Titanic. (The small dogs were with their owners and no one seems to have objected to their presence. They escaped early in lifeboats that were nearly empty. Miss Margaret Hays of New York brought her little Pomeranian with her. Henry Sleeper Harper of the Harper publishing house brought his Pekinese Sun Yat Sen.)
- Poodles originally had their extravagant haircuts to improve their swimming ability and keep their joints warm.
- Newfoundlands have webbed feet which make them great swimmers.
- The Greek writer Homer is considered the first person to write about dogs. Dogs are mentioned frequently in the Odyssey.
- The Chow Chow has a blue-black tongue. Other dogs have pink tongues.
- In the heavens the constellation Canis Major (the great dog) follows Orion the Hunter, his master, through the night sky.
- Sirius, the “dog star” is the brightest star in our sky. It is located on the “shoulder” of Canis Major and shows the way for the nightly hunt.
A quiz to end with
The answers to the clues are in alpabetical order. Re-arrange the first letters of the first word of each answer to find an important message.
- A long-haired sighthound
- The Arctic dog
- The coach dog
- Does this dog do field trials?
- The fastest dog on earth
- The biggest dog in the world
- Well known and popular terrier
- Terrier from large northern city (UK)
- It's got webbed feet
- Dulux dog
- A hound which was used for hunting in water
- The lion fighter
- A Russian dog which loves the snow
- Wrinkle face
- Sighthound from Morocco
- Lives high in the mountains in the east
- Japanese guard dog
- 'No a gaunt' dog (anagram)
- Hybrid
No cheating!
Afghan Hound
Alaskan Malamute
Dalmatian
Field Spaniel
Greyhound
Irish wolfhound
Jack Russell
Manchester terrier
Newfoundland
Old English Sheepdog
Otterhound
Rhodesian Ridgeback
Samoyed
Sharpei
Sloughi
Tibetan Terrier
Tosa
Utonagan
X-breed
A dog isn't just for Xmas
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