It’s National Dog Day!

It's the one day each year set aside to honor our dogs. Unless you consider all the other days of the year that you spoil your dog rotten. Admit it, you know you do. We do too. As I watched my wife, Amy, scrambling some eggs and cheese last night, I said "Scrambled eggs! Looks delicious! Should I set the table for us?" She smiled (a smile that said you're cute, but not too bright) and pointed at our Weimaraner, Lucy. "Sorry, they're for her."

A couple of things you may or may not have known about "man's best friend." (Courtesy: LA Times)

• Most dogs do not age the equivalent of seven years for every calendar year. According to Dogster and the Dog Owner's Manual, dogs of all sizes age comparatively rapidly in the first two years of life. In two years, they are the equivalent of 24 years old. Then small and medium breeds age at a 5 to 1 ratio; large breeds, 6 to 1; and giant breeds, 7 to 1. "A Great Dane could be considered 'senior' at age 5, while a smaller toy poodle would still be spry at twice that age," the site says.

• As a nation, we spend billions of dollars each year to feed our dogs. In 2013, $9 billion worth of dry dog food and $2.3 billion of the wet variety was sold in the United States, says the Pet Food Institute.

• A growing trend in 2014: wearable tech for your dog. Devices can track a lost dog or monitor how much activity and rest the animal is getting. Then the data can be stored and displayed online so you can, for instance, monitor your pet's calories consumed and burned, as CBS reports.

• More U.S. households own dogs than cats. But there are more cats than dogs per household. There were 69,926,000 dogs in 36.5% of homes in the United States as of 2012, the American Veterinary Medical Assn. reports. That's an average of 1.6 per household. By comparison, there were 74,059,000 cats in 30.4% of homes, or an average of 2.1 per household.

• We spend more on vet visits for dogs than cats each year: $378 (mean) on our dogs but just $191 on cats. When it comes to vet bills, it seems even a horse is cheaper than a dog, although by a slim margin ($373).

That's it for now, as I have to head home to make Lucy a sandwich and fluff up her pillows.