There's knowledge that changes lives. And there's knowledge you want to tell someone at three in the morning who actually wants to sleep.

This article is for the second category. Everything written here is true. Scientifically proven. Utterly useless. And somehow — if you think about it long enough — not really.

 

Dogs dream. Really.

Ezra is lying in his spot. His paws twitch. His mouth makes small movements. Sometimes a soft woof. He's chasing. In his dream.

Brainwave measurements show that dogs dream just like humans — the same sleep stages, the same REM sleep (the phase where dreams occur). Puppies dream more frequently — probably because they have so much new information to process during the day. Small dogs dream more often than large ones.
What does Ezra dream about? Probably the forest. The ball. Andreas. Maybe even mangoes. What he definitely doesn't dream about: the watering can.

Dogs do their business in a north-south direction

Scientists analyzed 7,000 observations and found: dogs orient themselves to the Earth's magnetic field when defecating and urinating. They prefer the north-south axis. Similar observations have been made with cows, deer, and foxes. The Earth pulls. Everyone feels it. Only we humans don't anymore.

This means: Ezra in front of the equestrian statue in Vienna — completely unfazed by tourists and pigeons — probably first briefly checked the cardinal direction. And then decided: this is good. North-south is correct. 😄

The nose print is unique — like a fingerprint

Every nose print is unique — the patterns of ridges and indentations are different for every dog. There are even special nose print kits for dogs — you take the print and can have a pendant made from it.

What Ezra's nose can do: up to 220 million olfactory cells (we have five million). He can smell if someone is afraid. He can smell diseases. He can smell a drop in human insulin before they even notice it themselves. He smells the watering can from afar. Immediately. Always.

 

Paul McCartney hid a frequency for dogs in a Beatles song

At the end of 'A Day in the Life' — the last song on Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band — Paul McCartney inserted a frequency in 1967 that only dogs can hear. A whistle beyond human hearing.

Why? Because he could. Because he loved his dog. So if you put on Sergeant Pepper and your dog suddenly perks up, cocks its head, and looks confused — that's Paul McCartney. Saying hello. From 1967. 🎵

Left- and right-pawed dogs really exist

About 90 percent of humans are right-handed. With dogs, it's more balanced — about one-third are right-pawed, one-third left-pawed, and one-third have no preference. And — this is the best part — left-pawed dogs are said to be creative and constantly surprise their owners.

How do you find out? You observe which paw is forward first when they jump. Several times. If it's always the same one — that's their favorite paw. Is Ezra left- or right-pawed? That's homework for me. 😄

 

Dogs roll in smelly things — and it's intentional

Ezra comes back from his walk. Happy. Radiant. And smells of... something we'd rather not describe in detail. That's not an accident. That's evolution.

Wolves cover their own scent for camouflage. The smellier the source, the better — the terrain then smells like the surroundings instead of the wolf, making hunting easier. Ezra doesn't need camouflage. He doesn't hunt prey anymore. But the program is still running. 40,000-year-old DNA. Just like that.

Dog days have nothing to do with dogs

The hottest days of the year are called dog days — but not because dogs suffer in the heat. It's because of a star. Sirius — the brightest star in the night sky — belongs to the constellation Canis Major and was therefore called the Dog Star. The Greeks and Romans noticed that Sirius rose with the sun during the hottest summer weeks. And concluded: the Dog Star causes the heat.
Completely wrong. Completely logical for 400 BC. And not corrected since then.

 

Dogs sweat through their paws

It's a widespread myth that dogs don't sweat at all. They do sweat — but almost exclusively through the pads of their paws. That's where the sweat glands are located. Dogs use panting to cool down — through rapid inhalation and exhalation, moisture evaporates from the tongue and cools them from the inside.
The damp paw prints that Winnie leaves on the carpet after a summer walk — that's sweat. Officially. Scientifically. Winnie sweats on the carpet. 😄

 

Dogs understand up to 250 words

The average dog understands about 165 words and gestures. The smartest ones — Border Collies, Poodles, Labrador Retrievers — can understand up to 250. This corresponds to the language comprehension of a two-year-old child.

A two-year-old child who never says no if asked if they want to go for a walk. Who never complains if the food isn't warm enough. Who never explains why they don't like the watering can. In some ways, clearly the better toddler. To be understood as a metaphor.

 

The Ewoks from Star Wars are modeled after a dog

George Lucas — creator of Star Wars — modeled the Ewoks after his family dog. Indiana was an Alaskan Malamute. Large, fluffy, dignified. Indiana also inspired the name of Lucas's other famous hero: Indiana Jones.

So dogs influenced 20th-century pop culture. Without knowing it. Or maybe they did. Who knows.

 

Famous people and their dogs — a small hall of fame

Queen Elizabeth II — and her Corgis

The Queen owned over 30 Corgis in her lifetime — all descendants of Susan, the Corgi she received for her 18th birthday and who even accompanied her on her honeymoon. A biographer once wrote: the Queen likes dogs, horses, men and women — in that precise order.

Lady Diana called the Corgis 'walking carpets' because they always scurried around in front of the monarch. The Corgis had their own room in Buckingham Palace — the Corgi Room — their own servants, and a chef. The Queen personally gave them Christmas presents. The vets advised against raisin buns with cream and strawberry jam. The Queen had them served anyway. On a silver platter, of course. 👑

 

Peggy Guggenheim — and her Lhasa Apsos in Venice

Peggy Guggenheim — patron of Dalí, Picasso, Pollock, and Kandinsky — cruised through Venice in her private gondola. Always with her Lhasa Apsos on board. Her grave and the graves of her 14 beloved dogs are located on the grounds of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni — today the Peggy Guggenheim Museum on the Grand Canal. She wanted to lie beside them in death too. That was her wish. And it was fulfilled.

 

Otto von Bismarck — and his Great Danes

Bismarck loved dogs with an intensity that sometimes unnerved his contemporaries. His Great Dane, Tyras, tore the trousers off Russian Prince Gortschakow in 1878 — because the prince gesticulated too wildly. Bismarck barely apologized.

 

 

Frederick II of Prussia — and Biche

Frederick the Great had a Whippet named Biche, who was given to him in 1744. His last wish: to be buried next to her. Only in 1991 — 205 years after his death — was this wish fulfilled. He now lies next to Biche on the terrace of Sanssouci Palace.

 

Karl Lagerfeld — and Choupette (yes, a cat — but too good to omit)

Karl Lagerfeld had no dogs. He had Choupette — a Birman cat with her own bodyguard, two assistants, her own iPad, and a fondness for caviar. She earned three million euros in advertising contracts alone in 2014. Lagerfeld said: 'She stole my heart.' And: 'I would marry her if I could.' After his death, Choupette inherited a significant portion of his fortune.

 

Paris Hilton — and Tinkerbell

Paris Hilton made the Chihuahua the "it-bag" alternative of the 2000s. Tinkerbell wore designer clothes, traveled in a Louis Vuitton bag, and was on more magazine covers than most models. Paris Hilton even wrote a book from Tinkerbell's perspective. Tinkerbell passed away in 2015. Paris Hilton publicly grieved. And then bought more Chihuahuas.

Famous movie dogs — another hall of fame

Inspector Rex — Austria's most famous German Shepherd comes from Bavaria

Since 1994, Rex has been investigating in Vienna. In the over 30-year history, at least 19 German Shepherds have participated — eight official main actors and at least eleven stunt and backup dogs. The new Rex is actually named Capo — trained by the Filmtierranch in Bavaria.

He eats sausage rolls — with unseasoned sausage, of course, we streamed it ourselves. And he's afraid of water and runs away when he's supposed to be bathed. The 'Viennese police dog' — from Bavaria, bath-averse, sausage roll lover. Somehow likable. 😄

He's back from April 13, 2026 — six new 90-minute feature films on ORF and SAT.1. Filmed in Vienna and Lower Austria. We really love our planet. 🐾

 

Lassie — actually a male dog

Lassie is the most famous female dog in film history. She was played by a male dog named Pal — whose descendants were seen on screen for decades afterward. Lassie has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

 

Rin Tin Tin — the first four-legged movie star

Rin Tin Tin, a German Shepherd, was discovered in a bombed-out stable in France by a US soldier during World War I — and later became one of the biggest movie stars of the 1920s. According to legend, he reportedly received the most votes for Best Actor at the first Academy Awards in 1929. The Academy found that less amusing and gave the award to a human.

 

Toto — earned more than Dorothy

Toto from The Wizard of Oz — played by a female dog named Terry — earned $125 a week on set. Judy Garland, who played Dorothy, received $500. For an animal in the 1930s, that was revolutionary. For Judy Garland, it was an insult.

 

Marley — the worst dog in the world

Marley from 'Marley & Me' is considered the most disobedient movie dog of all time. He eats furniture. He breaks leashes. He fails every obedience training. And in the end, all of America cries.

 

Dogmatix — the pacifist

Dogmatix from Asterix is the only dog in world literature who cries when a tree is cut down. A dog with more environmental awareness than most humans.

And finally — the most beautiful quotes about dogs

 

 

 

 

 

 

In closing

Knowledge makes you happy. Even if you never need it. Perhaps especially then.

And on the next walk, when Ezra stops, turns, pauses briefly — then we know: he's checking the cardinal direction. North-South. All correct. Then we can get going. 🐾🧡

 

And if you would like to read more about zeolite as a feed additive for dogs, we recommend:
⭕️ Effect, Application, Experience - Overview & Guide to Zeolite for Dogs
⭕️ Dosage and Application of Steinkraft Zeolite for Dogs. A Guide for Dog Lovers.