It seems some people are not dreaming of getting a puppy as a Valentine's Day gift, but rather wishing their human mates were more like a dog. And their dogs are helping them look for mates! According to an American Kennel Club survey:
25 percent of women polled wished men were in a perennially good mood, like a dog.
15 percent of men polled wished women were just as happy to stay home as go out on the town as a dog would be.
58 percent of men said a puppy is a foolproof way of meeting women in a park.
46 percent of women said they'd stop and talk to anyone with a cute puppy.
Children under the age of 5 left unattended with a dog have the highest chance of being bit. A study conducted by the University of Colorado looked at data of 537 dog-bite cases from 2003 to 2008. Children under 5 accounted for 68 percent of dog-bite cases, and most of the bites were by a familiar dog.
It's natural for a dog to bark when a stranger comes to the door. In the case of the mail carrier, that stranger comes almost every day. The dog barks to alert the family and to warn the carrier to go away. From the dog's point of view, it was his brave warning that drove the stranger away. He doesn't realize the mail carrier's just going to the next house on the route. Over time, the dog's reaction intensifies as he tries harder to send a message to the stranger who just doesn't seem to understand. As the dog becomes more and more worked up over time, the potential for a bite increases, with many mail carriers injured as a result.
—Mikkel Becker and Dr. Marty Becker
