We all live for those milestone birthdays, don’t we? Whether we’re just turning 21, or reaching a grand old age with a nice round number attached to it, it’s our way of keeping track of where we are in our lives. What about dogs though? We’ve all heard of “dog years” but what does that term actually mean? Let’s find out.
What are dog years?
Some people may be expecting us to say that “one human year equals seven dog years” as this is an old adage that is often thrown around. Despite its popularity, it’s not really that correct and there are far more nuances to the answer than a formula that simple.
Back in the 1950s, people started trying to equate a dog’s life to a human life. If a dog lives X amount of years, and a human lives Y amount of years, and we say that Y=(X x 7) then we know if a dog is old, young, a teenager, in their 40s… but that’s really us trying to fit a dog shaped life into a human-shaped hole.
For a start, not all dogs share the same average lifespan. It’s not unusual for an Australian Shepherd Dog to reach 17 or 18 years old, while a Great Dane would be considered very old indeed if it made it beyond 8 years of age. Rottweilers won’t get much older than 9 years old, while a Beagle reaching its 15th birthday (in human years) is certainly not unusual. Do you see our problem here?
Is there a solution?
There is, but like we said, “1=7” is certainly not it. In fact, the American Veterinary Medical Association probably has the best guidelines for this sort of thing, and they go like this:
- At 1 human year old, your medium-sized dog is about 15 years old in dog years.
- At 2 human years old, your dog is in its mid-20s in dog years.
- After this, each human year is roughly 5 dog years.
The AMVA then tells us that all dogs are different and that depending on the size of your dog, this can be rejigged a little bit, but it’s, broadly speaking, probably the best equation we have for judging a dog’s age by our own human standards. It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad either.
Whatever breed of dog you call your own, it’s also worth remembering that senior dogs need a special diet, so if they do make it to a grand old age, treat them to some delicious senior dog food from tails.com.
I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this before. When I rescued Alfie I was told that is birthday was in January and indeed this is what it said on his medical papers, bit when I received his pedigree papers it is in fact 24th December 2015.
hi i wanted to let you know due to health issues i had to find nuala a new home.she is now with a lovely family.i have passed nuala food over to them and have told them about yourselves and her flea treatment.i hope they continue ordering her food and flea treatment from tails.com.i would like to cancel my orders from today
Hi Shirley, we’re pleased to hear that Nuala has found a loving home – it sounds like she’ll be well looked after. If you need to cancel your account, you can do this directly from your online account, or alternatively you can email our Customer team at hello@tails.com and they can help do this for you. Best wishes