Those of us who are lucky enough to share our lives with a pooch already know they’re capable of incredible things. After all, they didn’t inherit the title “man’s (and woman’s) best friend” for no reason.

So how many amazing canine facts can you come up with? Read on and let’s compare notes!

1. Dogs Can Sense Feelings and Diseases — Something as subtle as a slight change in your scent can reveal to your pooch exactly how you are feeling. For example, sweating excessively lets your dog know that you are anxious or afraid. But their detection skills are even more sophisticated than that. Dogs can sense certain types of diseases, and even know when a female member of the household is pregnant! Their acute sense of smell makes it possible for them to detect bombs, drugs and earthquake survivors, if trained to do so.

2. Their Whiskers Aid Night Vision — The long hairs rooted in a dog’s muzzle, jaw and eye brow area act like antenna. These whiskers can detect the tiniest changes and vibrations in air currents, allowing a dog to distinguish the size, shape and speed of surrounding objects in the dark. Whiskers enable a dog to sense imminent threats and dangers, and to chase prey at night. A dog’s eyes are designed to help him see in the dark, too.

3. Heightened Sense of Smell and Hearing — A dog’s sense of smell is approximately 1,000 to 10 million time better than our own! Dogs possess between 125 million and 300 million scent glands, depending on their breed. Conversely, humans have a mere five million scent glands. And canine hearing outperforms our own hearing, but declines with age as does ours.

4. Dogs’ IQ Can Best a Human 2-Year-Old — How many times have we heard that dogs and toddlers have similar IQs? Findings from a study based on a language acquisition test revealed that smarter dog breeds are capable of learning up to 250 words, as compared to a two-year-old child’s ability to learn 165 words. Additionally, one-year old puppies are as physically grown as a 15-year old human. Larger dogs and to age faster than smaller ones, so this is breed dependent, too.

Keep in mind that every dog is an individual and that these are general observations. I’ve known a few Clifton Park Super Dogs over the years. I’ve known pooches that have underperformed, too. And I’ve loved them all!