Dog quiz questions for canine enthusiasts

Dogs have been living alongside people for thousands of years, so it's no surprise that almost every quiz team has at least one dog bore in it. Here are 17 dog quiz questions in three rounds: famous dogs and easy breeds to warm up, then the strange things dogs' bodies can do, then a harder round of history. There's a tiebreaker and some marking advice at the end.

For a full animal night, pair this with our cat quiz questions or the wider animal quiz questions.

Warm-up questions

1What breed of dog is Scooby-Doo?Use in quizUse

Answer:A Great Dane (source)(click to reveal)

2What breed was Toto in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz?Use in quizUse

Answer:A Cairn Terrier (source)(click to reveal)

The part was played by a female terrier called Terry.

3Dalmatian puppies aren't born with their spots. What do they look like at birth?Use in quizUse

Answer:Plain white (source)(click to reveal)

4Which Akita kept returning to Shibuya Station in Tokyo for almost ten years after his owner died?Use in quizUse

Answer:Hachikō (source)(click to reveal)

5The dog show Crufts is named after its founder, Charles Cruft. What sort of company did he work for?Use in quizUse

Answer:A dog biscuit maker (he was its general manager, source)(click to reveal)

Bodies, breeds and senses

6The Basenji is called the "barkless dog". What sound does it make instead?Use in quizUse

Answer:A yodel (source)(click to reveal)

The unusual sound comes from its oddly shaped larynx.

7Which part of a Chow Chow is famously blue-black?Use in quizUse

Answer:Its tongue (source)(click to reveal)

The Shar Pei can have the same dark tongue.

8What's unusual about the feet of the Lundehund, a Norwegian breed originally used for hunting puffins?Use in quizUse

Answer:It has six toes on each foot (source)(click to reveal)

It can also fold its ears shut and bend its head right back along its spine.

9Dogs' noses are wet for a reason. What does the thin layer of mucus help them do?Use in quizUse

Answer:Absorb scent chemicals (making their sense of smell even sharper, source)(click to reveal)

Accept "keep cool" for half a point, since the moisture also cools them as it evaporates.

10A dog called Tigger holds the Guinness World Record for the longest ears on a dog ever. What breed was he?Use in quizUse

Answer:A Bloodhound (source)(click to reveal)

His right ear measured 34.9 cm when the record was verified in 2004.

11Dogs readily follow a pointing human finger to find hidden food. Which of our closest relatives did much worse at the same test?Use in quizUse

Answer:Chimpanzees (source)(click to reveal)

The chimps chose the right spot only about half the time, no better than guessing. The usual explanation is that dogs have evolved to be finely tuned to what humans want.

12Charities such as Medical Detection Dogs train dogs to help with the early diagnosis of which disease, using only their sense of smell?Use in quizUse

Answer:Cancer (source)(click to reveal)

The UK charity says its dogs have detected 28 different diseases, so be ready for teams to argue for others.

History and famous dogs

13In 1957, a stray from the streets of Moscow became the first animal to orbit the Earth. What was her name?Use in quizUse

Answer:Laika (source)(click to reveal)

She flew aboard Sputnik 2.

14In March 1966, a collie called Pickles became a national hero in England. What did he find?Use in quizUse

Answer:The stolen World Cup trophy (the Jules Rimet Trophy, source)(click to reveal)

He found it a week after the theft, lying by a parked car in south London. If that's your crowd, our World Cup quiz questions go well after this.

15Greyfriars Bobby, the terrier said to have guarded his owner's grave for 14 years, lived in which city?Use in quizUse

Answer:Edinburgh (source)(click to reveal)

How much of the story is true has been disputed, but the legend is firmly part of the city's folklore.

16In J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, the Darling family employ a dog called Nana as their children's nanny. What breed is she?Use in quizUse

Answer:A Newfoundland (source)(click to reveal)

17The Soviet surgeon Vladimir Demikhov created a two-headed dog in 1954. How?Use in quizUse

Answer:He grafted one dog's head and upper body, including its front legs, onto another dog (source)(click to reveal)

Most of these dogs survived only a few days, though one lived for 29 days. It's a grim one, so skip it for a family quiz.

Tips for running a dog round

Ease people in with the famous dogs. Cartoon and film dogs are the most reliable way to get every team scoring early. The body and senses round is where the dog owners in the room will start to pull ahead, and the history round levels things out again because owning a dog doesn't help much there.

Be clear about how you'll mark breeds. For Q2, "terrier" on its own shouldn't get the point, because the question is really testing whether people know the Cairn. For Q10, accept "Bloodhound" only. Expect some teams to answer "Basset Hound", and expect them to argue.

Watch out for older answers floating around. Lots of quiz books quote a precise accuracy figure for cancer-sniffing dogs. Those numbers come from individual studies, so Q12 asks about the disease rather than a percentage. Avoid "how accurate" questions unless you can point to the exact study.

Tiebreaker. Ask: "In what year was the first show called Crufts held?" The answer is 1891, at the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington, London (source). Closest year wins.

Make it a picture round. Breeds are much easier to show than describe. A "name the breed" grid of eight photos makes a great companion round, and you can build one in our pub quiz maker alongside these questions.