National Geographic Kids Readers: Woof!

African wild dogs have four toes

per paw, instead of five.

Dogs mostly sweat through

glands on their paws.

The longest-lived dog

on record lived

29 years.

Dogs aren’t the only animals that bark.

Deer, monkeys, and some types of birds

also make barking noises.

A golden retriever named Augie

held five tennis balls in her mouth

at one time, setting a world record.

The world’s fastest dogs—

greyhounds—can run about

45 miles an hour.

Dogs don’t enjoy being hugged. For a dog,

putting a limb over another animal is

a sign of power and control.

Dog poop isn’t just gross to step in.

A type of parasitic roundworm that can

make humans sick is found in more

than one-third of dog droppings.

Dogs have three eyelids!

Humans have five times

the number of

taste buds as dogs.

Dogs sleep an

average of

12 to 14 hours a day.

Twelve dogs were aboard the Titanic. Three survived—two Pomeranians and a Pekingese.

Puppies that have little contact with

humans during their first three months

usually won’t make good pets.

From 1924 to 2006, it was

illegal to have a pet dog

in Reykjavik, Iceland.

A park in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.,

has lampposts powered by dog poop.

When drinking water, dogs cup the

back of their tongues to transfer

water from the bowl into their mouths.

Poodles get their name from the German word for

“to splash dog.” They were bred to retrieve birds

from lakes and ponds for their hunter owners.

A dog belonging to ancient

Egyptian royalty got its own

tomb near the Pyramids at Giza.

Don’t be fooled by a hyena’s

doglike looks. They’re actually