How Old Is My Dog?

If you are a pet parent, we are sure you often have various questions about how old your dog is. This is a very sudden thought that comes to our mind, maybe when we are playing with our dog or feeding it.  If that is what brought you here, don’t worry, you are not alone. 

There are a lot of factors that determine the lifespan of dogs. For instance, smaller dogs tend to live a longer life when we compare them to bigger ones, because they mature early. Similarly, there are a lot of factors like breed, genetics, chances of getting diseases etc. which determine how long a dog will live. 

How do I calculate my dog’s age? 

Your dog’s age might seem a simple question at first, but it is not as simple as it seems. Here is how! Dogs usually don’t age at the same pace as we do. So how do we actually calculate a dog’s age?

A simple way of doing that is multiplying the age with a factor ranging from 5 to 7. However, as we always mention, this is just an estimation and there is no guarantee of accuracy. The results may vary from source to source. 

Dogs’ Development Process

A dog’s development, when talking physiologically, doesn’t go in line with that of humans. Humans have a very steady pattern of growth. However, this might not be the case for dogs. As you might have observed the dogs grow and develop faster in the early years of their lives. This growth process slows down when they have nearly matured. This process accelerates and suddenly becomes faster towards the end of the dog’s life. However, this process varies from dog to dog and breed to breed. Primarily, the size of the dog is something that plays a major role in deciding how old your dog is. 

Usually, in the case of mammals, the larger they are in size, the more they live. However, this is not the case for dogs. Smaller dogs usually have a longer life. However, again, there are no hard and fast rules. There are exceptions of all kinds that exist. 

Also See Infographic:- Benefits Of Owning A Dog

Check the teeth!

Another Interesting way in which you can guess the age of your dog, is by checking their teeth. Teeth are a part of their body that they use throughout their lives, so they get worn out by the time they reach the last years of their lives. For instance, by 8 weeks of age, the dog has baby teeth only. By the time they reach the age of 1 or 2 years teeth start becoming duller and the back teeth can be observed with some yellowing. By 10 years of age, the teeth would be worn and there would be signs of cavities. So this is how you can judge a dog’s age by looking at their teeth. 

So basically, in a nutshell, there are no rules using which you can get the accurate age of your dog or tell how old it is. However, you will find a lot of tricks and observations using which you can make conclusions about the same.