A dog is truly the best friend of a man. A dog’s breed is a big factor while choosing one for adopting. True dog lovers don’t care for any superior breed, but in reality, some dog breeds are more preferable as a pet than others, especially in the case of a family with kids. Here are a few dog breeds and their interesting characteristics, which have made them the most adopted dog breeds in North America.

Golden Retriever

Golden Retrievers are possibly on the top of the most popular dog breeds list in the world. With their gorgeous looks, they are highly social and tend to mingle with almost anyone. Kids and other pets in the house are not a problem for them. This breed of dog is also of a highly adjustable type, with the ability to easily adapt to different lifestyles and indoor or outdoor living.

German Shepherd

This is another popular breed pet owners are fond of. German Shepherds are big in size but are fun to have around. These loyal and highly intelligent dogs are ideal pets, as they are naturally protective, and with proper training and socializing, can protect the owner’s family efficiently from unwanted strangers. For being easy to train, big-sized, and protective in nature, this breed is often used by police service.

Pug

These wrinkly little dogs are very beloved and sought after worldwide. They are quite lazy most of the time but are very smart and playful when around kids. They are great family pets with a highly social nature. They love attention and to get that, can show off and do funny things tirelessly! But they can’t regulate their body temperature due to their short nose, so the owner should pay attention to the temperature of their environment.

Poodle

These particularly cute hybrids also have a high adoption rate. They come in various sizes, so the owner can choose one easily depending upon the size of the living space in the home. Space is a considerable factor for Poodles, as they are very playful and love wide spaces. They especially enjoy the outdoors and like to hunt. With their signature cotton-candy coat, Poodles require more attention to maintenance. Stylish grooming of Poodles is very popular among owners of this breed.

Maltese

This is one of the more expensive dog breeds. With small size, quick movements, and exceedingly playful nature, Maltese dogs are very fun and entertaining to play games with. For this nature, they don’t need much outdoor exercise. This breed can be difficult to housebreak but can be very obedient and polite with proper training.

In good news, researchers found that cows can be potty trained. These findings are not only helpful for the environment but the cows. Potty-trained cows make it easy to collect and treat waste, keep the air pollution-free, keep the barns clean, and allow more animal-friendly and open farms.

Understanding the Challenges

Collecting and treating waste from cows was proving to be a challenge on a farm where they are allowed to defecate and roam freely while they graze. This created contamination problems for local soil and waterways. On the other hand, if they were controlled by keeping them in the barn, their feces and urine would mix to create ammonia. Ammonia is an indirect greenhouse gas. And while ammonia isn’t directly responsible for causing climate change, microbes turn it into nitrous oxide (the third most important greenhouse gas) when it mixes with the soil. Agriculture is the largest contributor in producing ammonia, and livestock farming make up half of it.

Another problem that plagued the researchers was the long-held belief that cows can’t be potty trained. Jan Langbein, an animal psychologist and author of the article published in the journal Current Biology said that it was assumed that cows are incapable of controlling their defecation. However, new research done by him and his team showed that much like dogs and cats, cows can be potty trained too.

How Did They Manage to Potty Train the Cows

Researchers made use of both rewards and punishments to potty-train the cows in a process they dubbed MooLoo training. They started with rewarding the calves when they made use of the latrine to defecate or urinate. To further the cause, researchers also wanted cows to associate defecating outside as unpleasant. They used punishment whenever they urinated or defecated outside. After trying their hands on different types of mild punishment that can cause an unpleasant feeling, researchers found splashing water on them to be the most useful. These findings allow researchers to train actual cows and calves on the farm – making for a cleaner and healthier environment.