How to find out how old your dog is by human standards

The latest research is changing the way we think about how old your dog's real age is compared to human age. On the assumption that one year of a dog's life is equivalent to seven human years, a ten-year-old dog was considered a 70-year veteran. However, new data suggest a more complex approach to determining the age of dogs.

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This popular formula was based on the fact that the average life expectancy of a human (about 77 years) was divided by the average life expectancy of a dog (about 11 years). However, research shows that this assumption is far from the truth since the development of the dog's body is different from that of humans.

For example, many dogs reach sexual maturity between 6 and 12 months, which is equivalent to 7 human years. On the other hand, some dogs can live up to 20 years or more, which corresponds to 140 years for humans at the traditional ratio of one year in seven.

Since the life expectancy of a dog depends greatly on the breed, it is difficult to determine an unambiguous coefficient that would correspond to the age of a dog in comparison with the age of a person. Small dogs tend to live longer and therefore age more slowly than larger breeds.

However, the question arises as to what we mean by age. This applies to factors such as physical condition, activity, and the state of health of the body's organs and systems. In terms of biological age, dogs can age at different rates even within the same breed.

Recent research in the field of animal genetics is also revealing new information about the aging process in dogs. In particular, it was found that there are certain markers of aging in the genes of dogs, which can help to determine their biological age more accurately.

Thus, it is an oversimplification to think that each year of a dog's life is equivalent to seven years of a human life. In fact, the biological age of dogs can vary from breed to breed, as well as depending on the individual characteristics of the dog.

Therefore, to better understand how your pet is aging, it is recommended to consult a veterinarian. A veterinarian will be able to assess your dog's physical condition, perform the necessary tests and provide a more accurate estimate of its age.

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So, it is worth remembering that the dog's age cannot be simply multiplied by seven, as it was thought before. New research and definitions of biological age help to better understand the aging process of dogs and give a more accurate estimate of their age compared to humans.

Even if you know the exact age of your pet, it doesn't tell you much about what stage of life it is in. Therefore, the authors of the new study advise focusing on the biological age of animals using the epigenetic clock, which takes into account the set of DNA epigenetic marks that accumulate in the body of any mammal over time.

The degree of methylation (modification of the DNA molecule) appears to be a fairly accurate indicator of age. Many important physiological markers that appear in different species at the same level of methylation can help calculate the biological age of animals.

Thus, with the help of a formula derived by researchers, it is possible to tie the age of a dog to its equivalent in a person. The formula is as follows: human age equivalent = 16 x ln (dog's age in years) + 31. Where "ln" is a natural logarithm that allows you to calculate algebraic equations in which the unknown is present as an exponent.

On the graph, you can see how the natural logarithm works if we want to translate the years of a dog's life into a human equivalent. In eight calendar years, your dog will live approximately 64 human years.

The first dog year is approximately equal to 31 human years. Then the number of doublings in chronological age decreases.

We will remind you that earlier we wrote about what dogs think when they bow their heads, as well as about 3 breeds of dogs that bring good luck to their owners.

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