The age of dogs by human standards. dog to human age ratio

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

This article is written for those who love animals and keep them at home. Well, let's talk about dogs. Each breeder or just the owner of these lovely creatures once thought: what is the age of my pet in terms of human years? And everyone at least once wanted to correlate the age of the pet with their own.

Dogs grow and develop much faster than people and therefore live less. Growth and development depend on many factors, including the breed of dog. Thus, people, one way or another studying the topic of the age of dogs by human standards, have not yet come to an unambiguous conclusion and a single answer. Therefore, there are a lot of theories that reveal this topic. Below are some of them.

Simplified method

This technique is called simplified. Its essence is to count one dog year as 7 human years. This is the easiest way and the oldest. In order to calculate how old a dog is by human standards, you need to multiply its actual age by seven.

Even in the 20th century, veterinarians came to such a technique. The fact is that the average human life expectancy is 70 years, while a dog's life is on average 10 years. How to calculate the age of a dog in human terms? One dog year of life corresponds to seven human years.

The minus of the technique is that it does not take into account social moments. Since a person for a rather long period of infancy and childhood depends on his parents, and this is almost a third of his entire life, and does not have independence, he cannot be compared, for example, with a one-year-old dog. An animal cannot afford to be dependent on elders for more than a short period of life, which takes up one tenth of a dog's entire life. Thus, a puppy of 3-4 months old is quite independent, and a dog at the age of one year already fully understands what they want from it, and can perform its security functions. Such a dog can be compared to a 15-year-old teenager. This means that the simplified methodology does not stand up to criticism.

Le Beau's Theory

Back in 1953, the French veterinarian Le Beau conducted research, studying in detail the stages of development and growth of the body - animal and human. He found out that there are common stages for the studied stages. Thus, he created his own method for calculating the age of dogs. In it, he took into account the characteristics of the dog's body. Based on his methodology, it turned out that a one-year-old dog by human standards would be 15 years old, a two-year-old - 24.

The ratio of the age of the dog anda person is as follows: the second year of a pet's life is equivalent to 9 human years. Each subsequent actual adds 4 human. But do not forget that this technique does not take into account the characteristics of breed and size. Thus, in a large and small dog, the age by human standards may differ, even if their actual age is the same.

Kleiber's Law

The second way to determine the age of a dog by human standards is called Klaiber's law. Its essence lies in the fact that the weight and size of the animal affect the duration of his life. That is, by linking the lifespan with the metabolic law of "three-quarters", Kleiber wants to prove that a larger pet lives longer than a small one. In fact, if we take into account the breed characteristics, everything turns out to be absolutely the opposite. Small dogs live longer than their larger counterparts.

Despite what has been said above, Kleiber's law should not be questioned. The fact is that it is valid, but relative to the size of other animals. For example, an elephant lives longer than a mouse. But the thing is that among warm-blooded animals, the dog takes its place, regardless of breed and size. And its lifespan is considered to be the average for the entire species.

The age of a dog by human standards will vary between individuals depending on the breed. Thus, 78 human years can be equated to 10 years for giant breeds, 12 years for large breeds, 14 years for medium breeds, and 15-16 years for small breeds. This is the reverse of the general dependence phenomenon insideThe species is not limited to dogs. This phenomenon can be observed in mice, horses and even humans. Its peculiarity in dogs is that it is observed most clearly in them.

An approximate table of calculations can be seen below.

Dog age

Gerontologists have found out a curious fact: the aging of the dog depends on the size of the dog. An eight year old toy terrier is different from an eight year old doberman. To objectively assess the age of a dog, it is customary to divide breeds into 4 weight categories. The first category includes pets weighing less than 10 kg, that is, small breeds. In the second category - medium, which weigh from 10 to 25 kg, in the third category - large, from 25 to 45 kg, but giants are considered from 45 kg and above.

Up to three years, inclusive, all breeds of dogs develop in exactly the same way. Thus, how old is a dog "humanly" if she is three years old? Approximate age is 28 years. After this milestone, giant breed dogs age without slowing down. This phenomenon contradicts Le Baux's theory. In small breeds of dogs, the aging stage slows down, and the more, the less the dog weighs. Thus, for small breeds, every next year after three is equal to 4, for medium breeds - to 4, 5, for large breeds - to 5 years.

Most often, owners are interested in how many years purebred dogs live. But here a lot depends on the breed itself and its characteristics. For example, Great Danes have an eternal problem with the cervical vertebrae and stomach. Recommendedfamiliarize yourself with the diseases of the breed in advance and regularly examine the pet at the veterinarian.

This rule also has exceptions. For example - breed the beagle has landed happily. The weight of a pet on average is from 8 kg to 14 kg, therefore this breed belongs to the average. The first year of life of this breed is 20 years in human terms. But otherwise, the data above can be relied upon in good conscience, as it applies to most known dog breeds.

Stages of dog development

Pets, like people, go through certain stages of growing up. This is a puppy, teenager, adult and old pet. It is worth paying attention to the fact that by the actual age of 2 years, the dog stops developing and growing. Until this age, it is worth providing the pet with all the conditions suitable for the full development, both physical and intellectual. This does not mean that it is impossible to teach a dog older than 2 years or instill certain skills in it, but the older the animal, the more difficult it is to re-educate it. In this, pets are similar to people. It is at a young age that dogs are usually taught something. Only experienced cynologists will undertake to train the older ones.

Puppy

It's clear that a puppy grows and develops much faster than a child. For example, if we proceed from the formation of milk teeth, then in a puppy they appear on the 20th day of life, and in a child - by six months.

A puppy can safely eat solid food at 3 or 4 weeks of age, while a baby can only eat at 4 months of age.

Teenager

The ratio of the age of a dog and a person in this case is uneven. If at 10 weeks of age the puppy is already considered a teenager, then the child becomes a teenager only by the age of 12. By the age of 10 months, the dog usually has fully formed permanent teeth. In the case of humans, this process ends by the age of 18 or even 25.

Adult

Here is the question that dog breeders are interested in: an adult dog - from what age? It turns out that since 2 years. Compared to our age, this is approximately 20-28 years, depending on the breed. From this age, dogs develop in different ways. We can say that by the age of five, our pet can be compared with a 40-year-old person, it is at this age that he is in the prime of his strength.

Old dog

An elderly dog is considered to be already 8 years old, she is getting old. Thus, by human standards, she can be given 55-60 years.

But do not forget that in the world of animals, just like in the world of people, there are long-livers. Among dogs, the age of centenarians is 20 years, which, when compared with a person, corresponds to 90 years. It is a known fact that one dog lived to be over 29 years old.

Conclusion

Finally, I would like to say: we are responsible for those who have been tamed, which means that, regardless of the breed, age and size of the animal, it should be well taken care of and not deprive of attention. Dogs live much less than us, but they love sincerely and tenderly, because we are all that they have.

Go to your pet once again and give itattention, because for happiness he needs so little, and he will answer with love a hundred times stronger.