Mental Floss Debunks Several Common Misconceptions About Household Pets

In a recent episode of the Mental Floss series Misconceptions, host Elliott Morgan debunks several common misconceptions about household pets like dogs, cats, and bunnies. Despite his snark toward cats (“I’m allergic to most cat personalities”), Elliot does bring up some very good points.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks as just an expression. Older healthy dogs can absolutely learn new tricks. In fact they might enjoy the activity in mental exercise. …Misconception number nine if you leave your dog outside, it’ll exercise by itself. Now some people believe that providing and dog with the yard means it’ll take care of its own exercise, but if you observe your dog in the yard you’ll probably knows that it is not running around or getting a decent amount exercise at all. Even if you have a yard should still be taking your dog for regular walk.