How Old is My Dog?

Many people know the saying “1 yr in dog years is 7 years in human years”. This is in fact a myth!

Royal Veterinary College in London did a study to prove this! On average, 1 year in a dog is equal to 31 years in a human!! That’s A LOT!!

When doing this study, they used Labrador Retrievers BUT it does not matter the breed or age, they all aged at the same speed.

How is this possible when some breeds tend to live longer than others?

Some dogs are more prone to different diseases than others and this can lead to different mortality rates. When it comes to the body itself, all dogs are the same on a certain DNA level. There is a term called “methylation” and it is a natural biological process that occurs in ALL DNA throughout a mammals life.

When comparing the methylation process between Labrador retrievers and humans in this study, the difference was 31 years. This is where this number comes from!

Aging in the dog (methylation) starts to slow down a bit at the age of one. Most dogs have all their rapid growing during their first year of life.

Compared to the complex 9 stage cycle of the human., there are only 4 in a canine. The stages of the canine life are:

1) Puppy: 0-18 months

3) Adolescent: 6-18 months

4) Adult: 1-6 years

5) Senior: 6-10 years (or older)

I’m conclusion, there are many outside factors that will decrease the lifespan of certain breeds. Their breed, size, and weight does in fact play a role overtime but when it comes to a DNA level, dogs age a lot faster than we think!

Leah Senecal