Like all living beings, dogs also age, but do they do so more slowly, as in the case of turtles, or do they age quickly? There are many signs that indicate the old age of the dog and that can be useful when caring for and educating them.
Surely you are one of those who calculate the age of your dog with the most famous method in the world, multiplying seven years to the years that the dog is from its date of birth. As it turns out, this method that has accompanied us for so many years may not be entirely accurate.
For many people, dogs are another member of the family, and very important too, so they take care of them like kings. For others, the love or attention of their dogs goes further, buying numerous clothes, necklaces, jewelry, and even celebrating parties, such as birthdays. This is one more reason to know the age of your dog and thus dress or decorate his birthday according to the age and mentality that the dog may have at that time.
Do you want to know what the real age of your dog is? Do you want to know how fast your dog ages and take care of him according to his age? Now we are going to give you all the keys so that you can calculate the age of your dog correctly.
Before, to calculate the “human” age of the dog, it was as simple as multiplying its age by seven and that’s it, but it turns out that it is not so simple. Recent studies have concluded that not all dogs age in the same way, nor do they all age at the same speed. What’s more, some breeds can even grow at different rates at each stage of their lives.
According to recent studies that have been widely published in various media, such as in animal magazines or on BBC Mondo, knowing the age of a dog will depend on the breed and the age of the dog at the time of calculation.
Weight and height
A dog’s weight and height are key factors in determining its life expectancy. According to statistics, there is generally a positive relationship between the average lifespan of a mammal and its body size. The larger an animal, the longer it lives, this is demonstrated, for example, by considering that whales, elephants and gorillas live much longer than small animals such as rodents and moles.
But in the case of dogs this is not the case, remove the opposite. Statistically speaking, we can say that the life expectancy of a large dog is less than that of a small dog. In fact, the average life expectancy of a large dog is 12 years, while smaller dogs can live an average of 16 years, and even more. However, it should be noted that these data are statistical and that the specific life expectancy of a dog will also depend on the quality of the food it is given, hygiene and of course the dog’s lifestyle.
If you want to know the true size of your dog to find out how many years it will live, you should wait until the dog is one year old, since that is when the dog stops growing and reaches its final height.
Taking into account the previous statistics, and following the general rule, a Rottweiler breed dog would have to live longer than a small breed dog, such as a Poodle, but in this case it is not like that. As we have said, dogs skip the general statistics, and it would be the Poodle that would live the longest.
This is because small dogs have less youth time and more adult time. They grow and mature rapidly during their first two years of life, but after reaching maturity this growth slows down. On the other hand, large dogs have more years of youth and their growth during the first years of life is not as fast as in the case of small dogs, instead they age faster.
So that we understand each other, if we compare a small dog and a large dog of three years each, the small dog will be older than the large one. On the other hand, if we compare them again at five years, the small dog will be younger than the large one.
Therefore, the experts support the conclusions about the life expectancy of dogs. Small dogs generally live longer than larger ones due to their biological clock and their growth process. In addition, small dogs become adults earlier because they do not have as many bodily demands to develop and reach their final size.
Compare the age of a dog with that of a human
As we have already said, it has always been said to multiply the age of a dog by seven to know its human age, but this is not entirely true. Think about this for example, if we multiply a year of life of a dog it would be equivalent to 7 years of a human, but at this age some dogs are already very developed and can even have offspring, on the other hand in humans, at this age they are still boy.
However, it is possible to compare the age of a dog with that of a human taking into account its evolution and development, in this way we can know what stage our dear friend is going through. The one that we expose below is a generic table taking into account an average size, so it must be modified to more or less years depending on the size of your dog as we have said.
Dog age Human age
- 2 months 14 months
- 3 months 3 years
- 6 months 5 years
- 8 months 20 years
- 2 years 24 years
- 3 years 30 years
- 4 years 36 years
- 5 years 40 years
- 6 years 42 years
- 7 years 46 years
You should keep in mind that small breed dogs begin to age from 11 or 12 years old, while larger ones begin to age between 7 and 8 years old, while medium-sized dogs begin to age between 9 and 10 years old.
Another conclusion also indicates that a dog classified as purebred will age faster than one that is not purebred. In addition, the latest veterinary studies carried out on the life expectancy of a dog also concluded that females have a longer life expectancy than males, that is, females will live longer than males.
Looking at the average data of some breeds we can see how a Chihuahua can live on average 16 or 18 years, while a Saint Bernard can live on average between 8 and 10 years.
Other indicators of the age of the dog
In addition to looking at its size, we can also look at other key factors that also indicate what stage a dog is going through, these are:
- The hair: the appearance of gray hair begins mainly on the legs and on the snout. Also, the older a dog gets, the finer their coat becomes.
- Muscles: Note that the same thing happens to dogs as to humans, and that is that the older they get, the more volume and firmness their muscles lose. This is a good sign that the aging process has begun.
- Teeth: the teeth can also help us to know the age of our dog using another method, keep in mind that a dog can start losing teeth from 6 or 7 years old, and also the appearance of inflammation in the gums is frequent.
- Behavior: Another indicator of a dog’s age is its behavior, the way it acts. Their wants and needs begin to change as they get older, for example a large or medium sized dog who loved to go outside, walk and run may become slower and even less active, usually becoming more irritable and grumpy. Other behaviors that indicate the aging of our dog is that they want to sleep more hours, that they do not want to go out for their walks, that they begin to ignore familiar or known people, that they lose their sight, incontinence, lack of appetite etc.
As we have seen, the myth of multiplying the dog’s age by 7 is completely false, and there are other more accurate methods to know the age of a dog and to know what stage of life our companion is going through. Remember that he depends a lot on the size of the breed, and that his life expectancy is general, but it also depends on other factors such as the care he receives, physical exercise, etc. Take good care of your canine friend so that he lives many more years in good conditions.
