1 Human Year = 7 Dog Years? Here’s the truth

MyFriend Team
- July 14, 2023

Have you ever wondered how old your furry friend is in comparison to humans? We’ve all heard that “one human year equals seven dog years.” The saying has been passed around like a game of fetch, but is it accurate? In this article, we’ll dig deeper into the realm of dog aging and look at the reality of this myth. Prepare yourself for some “pawsome” insights that will forever alter the way you assume the age of your fur baby!

First things first, people are still determining where the myth of the 7:1 ratio came from. Dogs just cannot be compared to humans in many ways when it comes to longevity and maturation rates. Because we are a different species, the rate of our biology and development vary greatly. Our buddies generally hit the dating scene and reach sexual maturity in their first year of life, maturing considerably more quickly than we hoomans do in our early years, and much more slowly than in our later years. Hypothetically, if our aging process is like our canine companions, we would all be prepared for marriage and parenthood by age 7 years old, and maintain our youthful health well and long into our eighties!

So How Old Is My Dog?

Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine started a unique study to better understand how the DNA of humans and dogs changes over time. They developed this cool new way to figure out a dog’s age in human years. Here’s the formula to calculate your buddy’s age: human_age = 16ln(dog_age) + 31. That sounds complicated, right? Don’t worry, there are helpful online calculators that will handle the math for you, here.

Another method recommended by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) for determining your dog’s age for all small, medium, and big dogs under 100 lbs is according to the following guidelines:

🐾 A dog’s first year of life corresponds to 15 human years.
🐾 A dog’s second year of life is about equivalent to nine human years.
🐾 About four or five human years are added for every additional year.

So, it’s simple to calculate your pup’s age in human years. Isn’t that fantastic?

Hooman Rate ≠ Dog Age

You have to keep in mind that dogs don’t mature at the same rate, and their size has a significant impact on how old they become. If you have a toy-sized canine friend, their age chart has a different structure. Compared to large dogs, small dogs typically live longer. The age chart for owners of medium-sized dogs, which weigh between 20 and 50 pounds, is somewhere in the middle. Let’s take a closer look at how old they’re in human years;

Credit : ADEKVAT / GETTY

So let us celebrate that our floofy friends have their beautiful life journey! It’s a mash-up of puppy antics, adult responsibilities, and gracefully wagging tails. And, well, that’s what makes them unique!

Thanks to the pawsome researchers, it turns out that it’s not that simple just multiplying by seven. So next time if you’re wondering how old your little buddy is, keep these new methods and the chart in mind and calculate their age in a tail-wagging accurate way.

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