Animal Info Dogs Oddities and Random Trivia

Some oddities and random trivia about dogs including facts about barking and nervous breakdowns.

DOGS

ODDITIES

Barking may represent the domesticated dog's attempt to communicate with humans--a kind of language. Wild canines mostly howl or growl but have a less articulate bark than domestic dogs.

Intrepid, a golden retriever and Dade County, Florida's champion agent K9-3, sniffed out $16 million worth of narcotics in less than two years.

Dogs are more prone to nervous breakdowns than any other nonhuman animal, perhaps because of their long association with humans, and many neurotic pooches today are treated by self-styled "dog psychiatrists." Paradoxically, many dogs are acting as therapists themselves by giving undemanding affection to retarded, emotionally disturbed, and handicapped humans, children in particular. Skeezer, a gentle mongrel, served in that capacity for seven years in the Ann Arbor, Mich., Children's Psychiatric Hospital.