As a kid, you probably had stickers of your favorite animals plastered all over your pencil box. When you grew up, there’s a good chance you put a picture of your favorite pet as your smartphone’s background. Animals have a heavy presence in most of our lives, but while we sometimes think we’re experts on them, not everything we “know” about the Animal Kingdom is true…

Many of the facts we’ve been exposed to over the years about the animals we know and love — yep, even dogs and cats — aren’t grounded in reality. So, to not look like fools when our friends Google our animal-claims, let’s debunk some common beastly myths we’ve believed for most of our lives!

1. Dogs: To train “man’s best friend,” we often insist on dominating or scaring them and making sure that we’re the “alpha.” The theory is that because wolves choose an alpha leader (or do they?), our loyal canines respond to the alpha-beta relationship, too.