1) Origin

Soft coated Wheaten terrier is an ancient breed native to ireland. The common people were forbidden to own a coursing or hunting dog breeds, for example the famous Irish Wolfhound, so they bred their own dog. That is why they were nicknamed as poor mans wolfhound. These dogs were closely related to Kerry blue terrier.

2) Versitality

Wheatens are not only good hunters, like most of the other terriers. The common people used them for a lot of tasks, including herding, hunting, killing vermin, and being a watchdog and family pet. And they were good at all of it. Today, thanks to their versitality, they are also great at dog sports like agility, herding trials and tracking.

3) Puppy color

The Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers are known for their beige coat, but when they are born, they can be in completely different color, which will change in their adulthood. You can even find cream and white puppies and some of them even have black tipping.

4) Training

This breed is no pushover to train, but that is something you can expect from all the Terriers. They are not stupid, not at all, but they have mind of their own and they know how to be stubborn. That is why you have to be firm, absolutely consistent and patient trainer. Reward based training should be the best type of training for this breed.

5) Bouncers

Wheatens are highly active breed. They are always ready for a long walk or jog, but their favourite is vigorous playtime. They are known as bouncers, because they just jump up and down when they are excited. I know it sounds adorable, but it can get out of your hands very quickly, when they start licking your face like crazy.

6) Diving Champion

Did you know that there is a diving dog championship? Most of the time, this is a competition for Retrievers, which are bred to swim and dive, but there is a one Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier named Krista who can compete with them and that was in TOP 10 diving dogs in the world.

7) Shaggy coat

The Wheatens coat is great looking, but as with many other breeds, that have similar shaggy coats, they can be pretty messy. Leaves, mud, snow, fecal matter, and other debris cling to his rough coat and ends up all over your house. And their beard absorb water and wet food, which will be also dripping all around the house. You should be prepared for it, when getting a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier.

8) Social dogs

Wheatens love to be around their family and owners, they are very social dogs. That is all good, if you have enough time for them. But if you leave them regularly for long periods of time alone, they may develop separation anxiety and they can start barking excessively or chew on your furniture.

9) Wheaten Greetin

If there is someting, where Wheatens differ a lot from a typical terrier, than it is how much they love people. They are not aloof at all, especially towards people they already met. And they love welcoming them. that there’s even a name for the way they greet new friends: It’s called the “Wheaten Greeting,”

10) Size

Soft coated wheaten terrier is medium sized dog with squared body and triangular head. They should be 17-19 inches tall which is 43-48 cm and their weight should be between 30-40 pounds which is 14-18 kg. The females are naturally little bit smaller than males.

1) Dalmatia

The Dalmatians have their name from the Dalmatia – one of the historical regions of Croatia. It is certain, that Dalmatians had strong representation in this region, but scientist are not sure if this really is the place of Dalmatian origin. It is because Dalmatian traveled a lot with nomadic Romani people and they traveled across a lot of countries in their past.

2) Egypt

Another theory suggest, that Dalmatians have their origin in ancient Egypt. It is because spotted dogs have been found painted on the walls of Egyptian tombs and these dogs looked very similar to the Dalmatians we know today.

3) Firehouse dogs

Dalmatians are famous as dogs that served at firehouses. But they did not extinguish a fire, their purpose was different. They were used as coaching dogs for horse driven fire cars. Their job was to run alongside with the fire coach and clear the road for the horses. Today, there is no need for coaching dogs, but many firehouses still keep Dalmatians as their mascots

4) Other purposes

Coaching was not the only purpose dalmatians were used for. This is pretty versatile dogs and they were also used as herders, hunters, ratters and guards. They served as great guards during the war, when they protect the borders.

5) Spots

You definitely saw a Dalmatian with black spots. Black and white is the most common color of this breed, but did you know, that they can have spots in brown, lemon and blue color? And you can find the spots everywhere, some Dalmatians even have the spots inside the mouth! Another interesting fact is, that the Dalmatians puppies are actually born spotless, they are all white and the spots starting to show up when they are 4 weeks old.

6) Personality

Dalmatians are very intelligent dogs, but the training is not so easy as with for example Labrador Retrievers. It is because Dalmatians are pretty independent, stubborn and willful dogs. That is why you will need to be absolutely consistent and patient trainer to have obedient Dalmatian.

7) President dog

Dalmatian was favourite breed of many famous people, including two founding fathers of the USA – the George Washington and benjamin franklin. Other famous people who fall in love with dalmatians are Dick Clark, Gloria Estefan, Queen Beatrix and Ted Williams.

8) Circus dogs

Dalmatians are natural clowns – highly energetic, intelligent, fun to be around dogs with great memory. They make great performing dogs, because people love them for their adorable apperance and they are capable of learning a lot of different tricks.

9) Unique coat

Every human have unique fingerprints and every dog have a unique nose. Dalmatians have one more unique thing on their bodies, and it is their coat. There are no two Dalmatians, who would have the exactly same pattern of spots on their coat.
10) Deafness

Sadly, Dalmatians suffer from deafness a lot. It is believed, that around 30% of all dalmatians suffer from some kind of deafness. And it has something to do with their coat – white dogs are more prone to be deaf than dogs with a lot of black spots.

1) Ancient History

The Chow Chow is truly ancient breed with thousands years old history. It is believed, that roots of the Chow Chow dates back 4000 years. Since its history is so long, it is hard to understand it clearly, but we do know, that they originated in China and it is often questioned whether the chow chow developed from spitz-type dogs or whether spitz-type dogs developed from the chow chow.

2) Versatile Workers

The Chow Chow was probably developed in the northern parts of China, but they were most frequently seen in the southern parts as working dogs. And they were very versatile, because they were used as guards, sled pullers, hunters and they were even used to herd cattle.

3) Blue Tongue

If you are new to this breed, you might be worried about your dog when you see its tongue for the first time! As puppies, the dogs have standard pink tongue, but with age, their tongues turn much darker and when they are fully adult, the tongue is blue-black. There is only one other breed that has tongue like that – the Chinese Shar pei.

4) No Swimming

Chow Chow knows how to swim, but it is not the best idea to try it. When their heavy fluffy double coat gets wet it can easily weigh the dogs down and it leads to bad swimming skills. But you can try your Chow Chow swimming abilities on shore, where you can help them easily.

5) Strangers

Chow Chows are devoted to their family, but they are known to be standoffish, aloof and even agressive towards strangers. But thanks to that, they make good guard dogs. And with a little bit of training and socialization, they will learn how to act correctly towards strangers.

6) Famous dogs

Some Chow Chows in the history were pretty famous thanks to their owners. For example Martha Stewart was a big chow chow lover and she often featured them on her TV show. Another Chow Chow was owned by Sigmund Freud who used them with his patients. Queen Victoria, Calvin Coolidge, Janet Jackson and Walt Disneys wife Lillian were also big Chow Chow lovers.

7) Teeth

I already mention, that you might be surprised when you open the Chow Chow mouth and you see the blue tongue. But there is one more interesting thing inside their mouth. Most of the dog breeds have 42 teeth, but Chow Chow has 44 teeth. They have two extra!

8) Health

Chow Chow is not the healthies breed and they do sufferr from some more or less serious health problems. The most common are hip and elbow dysplasia, diabetes, bloating, patellar luxation, cataracts, glaucoma and skin melanoma.

9) Size

The Chow Chow is medium sized, square dog which is strong and sturdy. Their height should be between 18-22 inches which is 46-56 cm and their weight should be between 50-70 pounds which is 22-31 kg. Females are naturally little bit smaller than males.

10) Grooming

If you look at the Chow Chows fluffy coat, it must be clear that they need a lot of care. You should brush them regularky, at least twice a week and they also need regular clipping, not just to look good, but to keep hair out of the eyes where it can impair vision. Other than that, you should regularly clean their eyes and ears.

1) Belgian Shepherd

There are four varieties of Belgian Shepherd – all named after Belgian villages – The Malinois, Groenendale, Tervuren and Lakenois. The Belgian Malinois is the shorthaired type of the Belgian Shepherd.

2) Bred for herding

Although, the Belgian Malinois are today used as police and protection dogs, their original purpose was herding. The history of the Belgian Malinois goes back to the 1880s, when they were called continental shepherd dog.

3) Skydiving

One of the reason, why Belgian Malinois are so favourite among the military is, that they are great at skydiving. They are fearless and also lighter than german shepherd, so it is easier to do a tandem jump with them.

4) Military and police

It is widely known, that Belgian malinois is a favourite breed for police purposes. But they also served in the World War I, mostly as messangers and they are even today very important members of the US military.

5) Size

This is medium sized, well proportioned, squared dog. Males should be around 24 to 26 inches tall which is 25 to 34 kg and they should weigh between 55 to 75 pounds which is 25 to 34 kg. Females are little bit smaller with height between 22 to 24 inches and weight between 40 to 60 pounds.

6) High Energy level

Belgian Malinois are great dogs, there is no doubt about it. But they are not good choice for everyone. You should be an active person to keep up with them. They love any kind of activity or dog sport, including obedience, agility, flyball, herding trials or tracking.

7) They caught bin Laden

The famous Belgian Malinois named Cairo, was a brave dog that served at NAVY Seals and they helped to také down Osama bin Laden in 2011. Dogs like Cairo have their own body armor and sometimes they even have their own night vision goggles.

8) People oriented dogs

From this video, it might sound, that Belgian Malinois are only tough and fearless working dogs. But they are extremely people oriented and they love to be included in all the family activities. They are also very playful, positive and fun to be around dogs.

9) White House guards

I already mentioned, that this is protective dog. But you might not heard, that they serve as guards at the White House. The U.S. Secret service uses Belgian Malinois to guard the grounds of the White house.

10) Socialization

If you want to have a Belgian Malinois as a family pet, the socialization is extremely important. They have they own mind and they can easily decide who to trust and who to avoid. If you will not socialize the Malinois early with the whole family, they will become one or two person dog and they will stick to them almost all the time.

For dogs, the sense of smell is just as important as the sense of sight for us. It is their most important sense. And according to the scientist, it's 10,000 to 100,000 times better than ours. Its hard to imagine, but we can make analogy to vision. Imagine that you can see 10 000 times better than you do now. That would be incredible wouldnt it? That is why the smell is so important for dogs.

People only have 6 million receptors in our nose, while dogs do have 300 millions of them. Another dog advantage is, that they have two different air passagese, one for breathins and another one for smelling! This means that they do not lost the smell, when they are breathing out – just like we do.

They also have better brain – well at least for smelling. If we would talk in brain ratio – the part of dogs brain that is analyzing the smell is 40 times bigger than ours. As you can see, dogs are just made for sniffing.

Dogs also have ability to sniff independently from each nostril. That is why they can track where the scent is coming from much more accurate than we do.