Ten things you never knew about... puppies

The Kennel Club’s Puppy Awareness Week begins today “to make sure that puppies live healthy, happy lives with suitable owners”.

1. The word puppy has been used for a small or young dog since the 15th century. 2. It has been used for a young seal or shark since the late 19th century, while pup has been extended to young giraffes, guinea pigs and rats. 3. A puppy does not open its eyes until about 10 days after birth. 4. “I would rather be beaten and be a man than to be elected and be a little puppy dog.” (Davy Crockett).

5. The earliest known use of the phrase “puppy love” for a brief romantic attachment between young people was in 1823.

6. The Oxford Dictionary defines “puppy-water” as an obsolete word meaning “the urine of a puppy, formerly used as a cosmetic”. 7. The Peanuts book Happiness Is A Warm Puppy by Charles Schultz was first published in 1962. 8. Officially, a puppy is a puppy until it has reached one year old. 9. A puppy attains half its adult weight at about 14 weeks of age, or five months for large breeds. 10. The most puppies in a litter is 24, born in 2004 to a Neapolitan mastiff in Cambridgeshire.