Okay, so today's blog post is about dogs and is inspired by my bosses dog, Boo (named after Boudicca, who was the Queen of the Iceni people of Eastern England in Roman times and was of a strong and noble character). She is a bluey-grey coloured staffy and is about two years old.

Some cool things to note about Boo:

If you put a keyboard under her paws when she gets excited she could easily play a tune. She can jump as high as a salmon out of water but you wouldn't believe this unless you saw it with your own eyes, she just springs into the air...at least five times higher than her own height! Crazy. Change isn't Boo's favourite thing, even a seemingly small change such as the sandwich board being moved to a different spot. How do we know she doesn't like this? Well, she won't go near it and hardly leaves her bed. She's not overly fond of loud noises (is this a dog thing in general though?) and another thing, you can actually see the emotions in her face. She frowns and smiles. My own family dog, Dennis (a Yorkshire Terrier) can laugh and if you ever catch him 'at it' with one of his teddies, he looks mortified! Perhaps it's not that much of a mad thing that dogs have expressions though? Maybe it's just me who thinks it's amazing. While I'm on the whole dog/human thing - did you know that over the years, dogs have evolved to look more human? By this I mean that the iris has gradually shrunk so that more white is on show, thus making a more human looking eyeball. It's true.

Back to Boo though. One day, a while back, I'd bought myself a colourful new scarf to celebrate being alive. When I walked into work wearing it, all cheery and at one with the world, Boo came bounding over...jumped up and grabbed the end of the scarf then started yanking at it, clearly having a great time...whilst I was choking. Ironic eh?

Anyway. I love Boo. She gives proper hugs and snuggles right into your neck...excellent on a baltic winters day! I look forward to coming into the shop to see her. We have loads of dog loving customers and a canny few of them get canvas prints of their pets too. Sadly, more often than not it is when they have passed away :-/ Maybe we could start a new trend of getting your dog on canvas before they cop it? ha. Just saying.

Anyway, here are some interesting facts about dogs in general:

1. The first dogs were self-domesticated wolves which, at least 12,000 years ago, became attracted to the first sites of permanent human habitation.

2. The Basenji is the world’s only barkless dog.

3. The smallest dog on record was a matchbox-size Yorkshire Terrier. It was 2.5" tall at the shoulder, 3.5" from nose tip to tail, and weighed only 4 ounces.

4. There are an estimated 400 million dogs in the world.

5. It is much easier for dogs to learn spoken commands if they are given in conjunction with hand signals or gestures.

6. Zorba, an English mastiff, is the biggest dog ever recorded. He weighed 343 pounds and measured 8' 3" from his nose to his tail.

7. Different smells in the a dog’s urine can tell other dogs whether the dog leaving the message is female or male, old or young, sick or healthy, happy or angry.

8. Dogs can be trained to detect epileptic seizures.

9. 70% of people sign their pet's name on greeting and holiday cards.

10.  An elderly woman was saved by her 12-pound Yorkshire Terrier who fought off an 80-pound Akita and survived with only 9 stitches.

I'll leave the facts at ten, but let's take a moment to reflect on how cool dogs are [1 minute reflection]. Another thing though, although I do like dogs, I would still have a panic attack if I saw a big strange dog running towards me on a field/beach and I was on my own. So have a care for the sensitive souls out there while you're walking and if your dog has an attitude, keep it on a lead won't ya? Oh, cat's are cool too by the way!

Kerry x