My Dog's Bigger Than Your Dog Trivia Quiz

Answer: St Bernard

The St Bernard measures up to 89cm at the shoulder.

While their rescue work in the Alps is well known, St Bernards are noted for their friendliness and loyalty.

The Redbone Coonhound reaches about 68.5cm.

The Catalan Sheepdog measures up to 75cm.

The Weimaraner, also known as 'the grey ghost', measures up to 70cm.

Answer: Border Collie

This, of course, is a very subjective category. Border collies are noted for being bright, inquisitive and easily trained for herding.

Other dogs that are trained to help us humans include German shepherds (and the 'cousin' breeds), Labrador retrievers, spaniels and pointers.

Answer: Pit Bull

Once again, this is another very subjective category. Any breed of dog can appear aggressive. In the UK, the Dangerous Dog Act bans several breeds from domestic homes.

Pit bulls were banned in the UK in 1991 and are banned also in many States in the USA. The term 'pit bull', in the USA, refers to the three breeds of American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier or Staffordshire bull terrier. In the USA in 1997, a study by the Centers for Disease Control reported that between 1979 and 1996, pit bulls accounted for 60 of the 164 deaths related to a dog attack where the breed was known.

It is difficult to see how a dog as cute as the Basenji could be considered dangerous, but they will hunt anything that moves and are noted for being among the least trainable breeds.

Afghan Hounds are not regarded as being fierce in general. They have a somewhat aloof personalty, but can also be rather playful.

Despite their intimidating size, Great Danes, when properly trained, are generally regarded as gentle giants. The caveat there is properly trained: otherwise they can spell trouble.

Answer: Greyhound

OK, no surprises here, the greyhound can reach speeds of up to 43mph.

They are also one of the few breeds that can be reasonably trained for sport. Greyhound racing is popular in many parts of the world. This has turned into something of a business and only the fastest and fittest dogs are kept. Many are put down because they cannot run quickly enough or when they become too old or injured to race.

The vizsla can top 40mph and the borzoi 36mph.

No, Jack Russell terrier is not a misprint, they can reach speeds of 38mph.

Answer: Pembrokeshire Welsh Corgi

A noted dog lover, the British queen kept several breeds from a young age.

As well as corgis, she kept cocker spaniels and dorgis, a corgi/dachshund cross at Buckingham Palace. She also kept hunting dogs at her homes outside London.

Corgis were associated with the Royal Household from the early 1930s and Queen Elizabeth grew up with them.

In 2018, the last of her corgis died and it was reported that she would not have any more as she did not wish to leave any behind on her own death. At that time, she still had two dorgis.

Answer: Golden Retriever

In a report by the website 'Dog Express' in December 2018, the Golden Retriever was listed as the loudest dog breed.

The German shepherd and beagle were numbers 2 and 3 on the list. The Basenji, meanwhile, is known as Africa's "barkless dog".

Most dogs can reach 80-90 decibels. In 2012, Guinness World Records listed a Golden Retriever called Charlie as having the individual loudest bark, at 113.1 decibels.

Answer: Bearded Collie

If you like doing a lot of grooming, the samoyed, pekingese and bichon frise are also among the top breeds to look for.

You should not have grooming problems with any of the wrong answers, although greyhounds do cast.

This interesting information was typed while brushing a Chocolate Labrador's hairs from a chair.

Answer: Great Dane

The Great Dane can weigh in at up to 200lbs

The three wrong answers all weigh in the 110 to 130lb range.

To put that in perspective, the average American funtrivia.com editor weighs in at 180lbs, making them the third heaviest in the world after Micronesia and Tonga.

(Okay, I made that up; 180.62 is the average weight of all adult Americans.)

Answer: Chihuahua

According to the American Kennel Club, the chihuahua stands between five and eight inches tall and weighs in at four to eight pounds.

The Affenpinscher stands nine to 11.5 inches tall and weighs seven to 10 pounds.

The Biewer terrier measures seven to 11 inches and weighs four to eight pounds.

The Bozoi measures 30 to 33 inches and weighs in at 75 to 105 pounds.

Answer: Bloodhound

No surprises in this; the bloodhound was placed top of a list of 10 by dogtime.com.

The bloodhound has 300 million scent receptors, the most of any breed.

(Humans have between five and six million scent receptors.)

With 225 million scent receptors, the German Shepherd is popular with law enforcement organisations worldwide for a varied range of uses. They are in at number four on the list.

To digress, when the Police Service of Northern Ireland sourced Belgian Shepherd pups for training, the dog handlers needed to learn Flemish to give certain commands.

At number 10 on the list is the Pointer, which is said to have the best nose of all pointing dogs. They are noted for their bird-finding skills and gentle mouths in bird shoots.

The English Springer Spaniel is prized for the diverse range of uses it can be put to. If you go behind the scenes at an airport, you will often see Springer Spaniels searching out drugs and explosives. They are in at number seven on the list.

In the UK, the South Yorkshire Police Service has trained spaniels to search for bodies. They are noted for their ability to smell tiny amounts of blood in water, even after a considerable amount of time has passed.

Meanwhile, I can testify that certain Chocolate Labradors (see Interesting Information passim) can smell an ice cream dropped in the street six months ago. (Labrador Retrievers are number five on the list.)