When measuring how old dogs are compared to people’s level of maturity, we had been told for a long time to multiply the age by 7, but recently scientists discovered it’s incorrect.

Dog’s age by human standards

We know there are different breeds of dogs and their life expectancy varies, depending on the size. For many decades we tried to evaluate dog’s maturity by multiplying their age by seven, but apparently it’s not a good enough approximation. Dogs are older that just human age times 7, researchers say, after evaluating their DNA changes with age.

Standards of health for dogs in the modern developed countries are very high and close to their owners’. This allows to use similar markers to evaluate their aging.

Like humans, dogs’ hair turns grey with age and they develop various diseases. But unlike humans, dogs age fast when they are young and then the process of ageing slows down.

For instance, 9-month dogs can have puppies. This fact alone shows that the figure of 7 to compare the level of body’s maturity is wrong, scientists from the University of California, USA, pointed out.

Actually, a 1-year dog is alike a 30-year-old human, in terms of biological maturity.

DNA also starts looking worn out like human faces start feeling with wrinkles with age. Similar chemical marks develop on DNA (methylation marks).

Over 100 Labradors’ DNA markets were analysed in the research, and came to a new formula of calculating dog’s age. The dogs varied in age from 0 to 16.

The new formula:

• 16 ln(dog_age) + 31

In other words, the age of dogs isn’t transferable to human years linear, but logarithmically.

• This way, an 8-week old puppy matches the maturity of a 9-month old human baby. It is about the same time when puppies and babies develop teeth.
• A 4-year-old dog is similar to a human of 52.
• Labrador’s average lifespan of 12 years corresponds to human’s 70 years, in this formula.
• A dog who is 6 years old is alike human in his late 50th.

In this way, you may better understand how old your dog feels when running and exercising with you.

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