Well Known Myths Re Dogs

Are Dogs healthy and well when they have a cold nose.

Do Dogs who have a poorly tummy eat grass

Are Dogs Tails a Barometer on whether they are happy or sad

When dogs turn around repeatably before settling is this because in the wild they were worried about snakes

Why do Dogs like chocolate if it is poison

When you take a Bitch for Ultra Sound and she shows an amount of puppies but then only has a few, has she absorbed them

In the wild Wolves are known to eat wild garlic,but to dogs today it is toxic

There are so many myths out there how many more do you know crystalgirl

Go to http://dogs.about.com/od/caringfordo...onceptions.htm

9 of the biggest dog myths

*note - this is not a rival dog site so doesn't break the rules

I think one of the biggest is the myth that a dog will always protect its owner. Which is bull, unless it's been trained to it wont

If I had a pound for every time I've read/heard that feeding dogs raw meat gives them the taste for blood and makes them more likely to attack, I would be able to afford another freezer to store the raw.

There is a grain of truth there, when a dog is ill and has a high temperature it's nose often becomes warm and dry

again to some extent this is true as dogs will sometimes seek out emetic herbs to help them expel the content of their stomachs .
I learnt a lot from the old 'terrier men' one thing being that dogs with an upset stomach will sometimes chew on grass not to eat it but to 'tickle' the back of their throats in order to induce vomiting rather like a human sticking their fingers down their throats.

...never heard that one before, I thought it was to flatten the long grass to make a soft bed something my dogs have always done.

It is not unheard of for a bitch to absorb her puppies and I have know it to happen in the days long before Ultra Sound was invented when we used a stethoscope to listen to puppy heart beats.

..garlic and all members of the allium family can cause blood conditions in some dogs though it is usually fine given in small quantities and not every day without a break.

Some 'myths' may have a degree of truth .

Some of these are rather erm....interesting lol. I haven't actually heard of a lot of them.


I have to disagree with this one but obviously depends on the individuals.
When i first got Millie she was a complete wreck - underweight, constantly shivering and tail tucked under to the extent it was touching her tummy.
The first main experience i had with her; I came out of a shop and untied her from the dog tie out, two jack russells off lead came around the corner and went for us both.
Millie completely changed! She went straight into defence mode, i was trying to get her behind me but i couldn't budge her, we both got cornered and she wouldn't let the dogs near me, as soon as the jack russells owner finally got them under control, she nuzzled into my leg and began shaking again crying.

It's the main thing which made us bond, she was such a nervous wreck yet she put all her fears to the side to defend me and we'd only had her a couple of days.

Nothing would ever make me doubt her doing that again and i've owned her for 11 years and she's cuddled up next to me on the sofa now (snoring as usual )

Sorry to be slightly off topic but it's a big part of our relationship and i couldn't be prouder of her.

My old favourite is that neutering a dogs calms them down, this one really makes me cross as I have quite a few friends who insist my lurcher 'calmed down' after he was neutered and had nothing to do with the hours of training I put in.

Some very strange myths:
If you count the nipples on a male dog, that tells you how many litter mates he had.

When a dobermann matures a single giant fang grows from the roof of its mouth, it can deploy this fang at will, like a snake. This is why not many people know about it as its rarely seen phenomena.

My gran always used to tell me this and i always thought it was an old wives tale: a dog with more pink than black in its mouth is more obedient. The pink and black bit may be the other way round, can't quite remember. Could there be a hint of truth in that one?

Just remembered another funny one! A quick and easy way to bond with a dog, take a piece of white bread and put it in your armpit for an hour, then feed it to the dog. Some versions of this myth to half chew the bread instead of the armpit thing but its essentially the same

Hi Its amazing how these myths happen,In Scotland,there is a story about a terrier called Greyfriars Bobbie,I have seen the film and cried buckets.Read in a book that this just didnt happen, also Robin Hood didnt either,But I will choose to believe it like I still believe Santa Claus and other beliefs that may well not be true crystalgirl

i have to disagree with you on that, many untrained dogs will protect their owners,
my old dog proved himself more than enough when me and my mate got into a fight

and marley is very protective of my and wont let other people touch me generally

and here I totally agree with you

AND! it's also the way how they can "show" it

for example my little one is afraid of every stranger and everything
so it's me, who protect her more or less, than the other way
but if she is WITH me, she gets against everyone as long as she feels secure by me being with her (at the leash for example)
another thing, I was really wondering about, as she is a bitch but is marking like a mad male dog when we are alone walking around
once I got an answer for, which came clear to my mind

right as she is so insecure, afraid...
so when we are alone walking, by her unusual doing for a female dog, she just wants so "protect" me
"posting" her signs, like marking every male dog HIS territory

difficult to explain, especially of my lack of English
but I really learnt to understand, her sometimes really strange behavior

but she IS protecting me, just by her own way and how she can