home Adviсe Appendix III. Determining the age of dogs. L. G. Utkin. How to determine the age of a puppy and an adult dog? Aging in dogs

Appendix III. Determining the age of dogs. L. G. Utkin. How to determine the age of a puppy and an adult dog? Aging in dogs

If you have long and successfully found the answer to the question about, and even selected a representative of the breed who suits you most with his personal qualities and breed characteristics, then, of course, you already know that if you want to raise this puppy a faithful and devoted friend - you should take care of his upbringing from the very first days of his stay in your home. We have already written about at what age it is better to get a puppy, and therefore we will not repeat ourselves, but today, on the contrary, we invite you to learn about... ways and methods of determining the age of dogs. After all, sellers of puppies do not always indicate their exact age, or you find a defenseless little lump on the street and bring it home - it is not surprising that a certificate of age in this case is not attached to your find...

Why do you need to know the dog's age?

Some of us may wonder, why even know the more or less exact age of a dog? Really, you can’t do without this by simply assessing who is in front of you – a puppy, a teenage dog, or an adult dog. In fact, it is important to know your pet's age not only to celebrate his birthday every year. But, this information will definitely come in handy when you seek help from a veterinary clinic, when you need to carry out routine vaccination of your pet (read about the need for vaccination and when the first vaccinations for a puppy should be given), so that you can create the correct feeding diet (find out what is best to feed a puppy and an adult dog), properly care for the puppy...

Asking the puppy or an adult dog is unlikely to work, but examining them and using their characteristic signs to determine how old the new family member is - this can be done even without the help of a specialist. The main thing is to follow our recommendations. If you still have difficulties or difficulties, you can always seek advice from a veterinarian - this professional will definitely not go wrong...

Methods for determining the age of dogs

How to tell a puppy's age by looking at its teeth

It is generally accepted that The most accurate method for determining the age of a puppy is the method of determining its age by its teeth. So, as in both people and animals, teeth change only once during a lifetime. And, based on their condition, you can estimate the approximate age of the pet. Why, approximate? Where's the accuracy? The fact is that

if the dog has the correct bite and is kept in good conditions, it will not have dental diseases - then you will be able to determine its age more accurately. But, if one of these criteria is violated, an error of several months, or even years, is possible... But, in principle, the chances of establishing the full number of years in animals without are quite many...

So, a newborn puppy has no teeth at all. Milk hooks and fangs begin to cut by 20-25 days. And, the incisors begin to appear at 30-35 days, while the molars begin to appear later. That is, by the age of 1-2 months, the puppy should already have a full set of milk teeth, unless, of course, there are any deviations or disturbances in its development. And, as a rule, at this age he is still with his mother.

The next important stage for determining the puppy’s age relates to the change of teeth. Thus, the front incisors or toes are replaced in 2-4 months; more precise timing regulates the characteristic breed characteristics. At 3-5 months, the premolars or middle incisors change, and until the puppy is 4-6 months old, his edges should change, and at 6 months he should have new canines. If you see exactly this “picture” in the puppy’s mouth, it means he is no more than 6 months old.

The last important stage, which again concerns the change of teeth, is regulated by a pattern that says -

As long as a dog grows, its teeth change.

After replacing the false roots and molars, the puppy grows the remaining teeth, and by the age of one year he should have a full set of teeth - snow-white and with characteristic tubercles...

By the way, as a rule, the process of replacing baby teeth with molars occurs faster in puppies, but these processes can be affected by illnesses of the puppy and... cropping of his ears. Experience shows that such an operation slows down the development of the pet as a whole, but this must be accepted if cropped ears are one of the breed requirements.

How to determine the age of an adult dog by its teeth

In the future, in order for you to be able to determine the age of a dog older than 1 year, you should pay attention to how its dental cusps wear away, whether the molars and incisors have specific convexities similar in shape to a trefoil - as they grow older dogs they will disappear.

So, if the dog is 2 years old, then the tubercles on the toes and on the lower jaw should be wiped off.
At 4 years old, the dog should have worn out the bumps on the upper toes, and the color of the tooth enamel should become dull.
At 5 years old, the dog’s cusps have been erased from all of its incisors, and the enamel itself has a yellow tint. The dog's fangs become less sharp.
At 6 years old, the worn incisors already take on a concave shape, and the dog’s bite itself becomes deformed, which makes it much more difficult to determine its correctness.
At 8-9 years old, the dental crowns of an adult dog are already worn out, the canines become dull and short, and the teeth become yellow.
At an older age (over 10 years), the dog’s teeth may fall out, and caries may develop...

What determines tooth wear in dogs?

In fact, tooth wear in a dog depends on many factors. And, one of the main ones is age, as well as caring for your pet’s teeth. So, if you want to keep your dog’s teeth healthy for longer, you should cement them, strengthen them, treat caries in a timely manner, remove plaque and tartar - all this to maintain healthy teeth.

Also, if the dog initially had an incorrect bite, its teeth will wear out faster. If your pet has a scissor bite, the abrasion process will occur 2 times faster. If the pet has an underbite, then on the contrary, the hooks of the lower jaw will last longer.

If you want to keep your dog’s teeth healthy and young longer, and thereby “hide” the real age of your pet, you should not let him wear hard things - stones or iron, make sure that your four-legged friend does not have a tendency to. It is also worth giving up too hard bones, as well as too soft food - as a result, the teeth become fragile and soft, loose, and are more prone to the formation of caries and tartar.

Other ways to determine the age of dogs

You can also, if determining the dog's age by teeth does not give an accurate result, use other methods. By the way,

if you try to conduct a comprehensive assessment, then this result will be much more accurate than if you determine the puppy’s age based on only one of the methods.

So you can rate dog muscle tone. The puppy will be characterized by well-developed muscles, and the dog’s behavior itself will be active. Ideally, a healthy puppy should move more than rest. But older dogs - on the contrary, they sleep more and spend less time playing (about). They may also experience muscle atrophy and, in rare cases, obesity.

Can help in estimating age dog coat. Soft and silky hair is typical for young dogs, while for older dogs it is hard and gets dirty faster. If the dog has a dark breed color, then an older pet may have gray hair growing in the muzzle area and on the lips. However, if the dog is devoid of fur or is too meek, or the condition of the coat may be neglected - for example, if in front of you is a dog that has not been washed or cut for a long time (find out) - it will be very difficult to determine its age using this evaluation criterion .

Some experts claim that a dog’s age can be revealed by its sight, in particular, eye condition. So, if your pet’s eyes are shiny and clear, you have a puppy or a teenager in front of you. If your pet’s eyes are dull, cloudy and not transparent, then most likely you are looking at an elderly dog. Moreover, most eye diseases in dogs develop precisely at this mature age...

There are many unscrupulous owners. Some people do not carefully monitor animals - dogs run away, others throw an animal that does not suit them into the street. When a dog is selected and found, the question arises of how to determine the dog’s age. This is necessary for examination by a veterinarian, vaccination, to create an announcement about the foundling, in order to know how to care for it, what to feed and how long to walk.

To determine the age, the pet is examined. As a person grows and ages, special signs appear, similar to what happens in animals. A puppy cannot be confused with an old animal. Veterinarians know how to find out a dog’s age more accurately by external signs. And among dogs there are long-lived people. The oldest dog died at 29 years old, but this is a rare exception. Most dogs live 10-16 years.

The second common question among pet owners related to age is whether it is possible to compare it with a human one. Knowledge is not very important, but interesting. The age of a dog by human standards can be approximately calculated using coefficients or viewed more accurately in special charts.

Comparison of human and canine ages

Knowing the average life expectancy of a person and a dog, it is easy to determine the conversion factor as 7 human years for 1 dog year. A rough estimate is given. In fact, the human age of a dog cannot be calculated using this scheme.

The puppy develops quickly. In the first year of life, he manages to catch up with the development of a 16-year-old teenager. For this reason, puppies receive increased attention. It is recommended to devote a lot of time to education and proper feeding, or time will be lost. The exact age of a puppy is easy to determine by observing its developmental stages. At 2 years old, the dog will be 24 in human years. Then maturation slows down.

Medium and small pets age more slowly than large and giant pets. Medium-sized dogs are considered to have longevity; traumatic injuries to dogs are less likely. Small pets go through 5 human years per year, large ones – 6, and largest ones – 7 years.

14 years of a large dog - 108 human years. The relationship between the age of the dog and the person helps determine the rules of care. From the age of 8, dogs are considered to be old; indeed, at the age of 55-66 people retire, their workload decreases, and their diet changes. The coefficient shows that small breeds are able to live longer.

How to determine age by teeth

An accurate method for determining age is to examine the dog's teeth. Like humans, animals' teeth change once in a lifetime. Based on the condition, you can roughly calculate the number of years. An accurate assessment is possible if the dog has the correct bite, the animal was kept in good conditions, without serious illnesses. The age of a dog by teeth helps to determine the number of full years for pets without accompanying documents.

For puppyhood, the following laws apply:

The newborn has no teeth. Milk hooks and fangs will begin to cut on the 20-25th day. The incisors appear at 30-35 days, the deciduous molars a little later. At 1-2 months the puppy has a full set of teeth, if there are no deviations. Usually puppies are kept with their mothers until 2-3 months.
The second stage of determining age is the change of teeth. The toes, or front incisors, are the first to change at 2-4 months, depending on the breed. 3-5 months is the time for the change of straight teeth - middle incisors, up to 4-6 months the edges change and at about the 6th month new canines grow.
Final stage. As dogs grow, their teeth change. The molars and false molars change, and the remaining teeth grow. At one year the dog has a full set of teeth, the animal is large and muscular. Only the fur is short. The one-year-old pet has snow-white teeth with characteristic tubercles.

In large dogs, the change from dairy to primary is faster. Diseases and ear cropping can slow down the course. The described slows down the development of the puppy as a whole.

In the future, to determine the age of the quadruped, they look at the abrasion of the tubercles. Young incisors and molars exhibit specific trefoil-shaped protuberances that disappear as they grow older. To clarify the number of years, look at the form:

2 years – the tubercles on the hooks on the lower jaw are erased;
4 years – the tubercles on the upper hooks are erased, the color of the enamel becomes dull;
5 years - the tubercles are erased from the incisors, yellowing of the enamel is noticeable. The fangs become a little dull;
6 years – worn incisors take on a concave shape, it is difficult to determine the correct bite:
8-10 years - the crowns have time to wear out, the fangs are short and blunt, the teeth are yellow;
older age – teeth become loose and fall out, tartar is visible, caries is possible.

Many factors influence tooth wear. The correspondence between the age of a dog and a person can be clearly seen from the teeth. The older the pet, the more likely dental disease is. Older pets often have their teeth specially cemented and strengthened so that they do not wear out. They carry out procedures to treat caries, remove plaque and tartar.

Teeth wear out faster than expected in dogs with malocclusion. The scissor type speeds up the process 2 times. Underbite helps maintain hooks on the lower jaw. Carrying hard objects, stones or iron accelerates tooth wear. Dogs in kennels often chew on iron bars, which accelerates tooth wear. It is not advisable to give hard bones to dogs often. And soft food leaves its mark - teeth become fragile, loose and susceptible to caries and the formation of tartar.

Other ways to estimate a dog's age

Physical examination is used to determine age. If the teeth do not give a complete picture or there is a high probability of making a mistake, look at:

Muscle tone. The young age of a person and a dog will show a healthy body: well-developed muscles, activity. A young dog will start running more than sleeping. Older dogs will prefer to sleep longer and walk less. Older people develop muscle atrophy or obesity.
Wool cover. Pure silky and soft fur is characteristic of a young animal. The older the dog, the coarser the coat and the faster it gets dirty. If the color is dark, the older dog will have gray hair visible on its muzzle near the lips. This is a subjective assessment of the dog’s age; the condition is greatly influenced by housing and nutritional conditions. Some breeds are completely devoid of fur.
Eyes. Clarity and sparkle in the eyes are inherent in any dog in puppyhood and in adulthood. An old dog's eyes are cloudy, dull and opaque. Eye diseases usually appear in older dogs.

Large dogs age faster. An individual process takes place. Usually after 10 years, various diseases appear. With proper care, your pet will live a long time. An old dog requires special treatment.

Why know the age of your four-legged friend?

To maintain normal dog health and prolong life, you need to know the age. Firstly, veterinarians need it for vaccination. Dogs are vaccinated according to age. While young - every year, then less often, since immunity has already been developed, and the injection is an extra burden on the animal.

You need to know at what age to sterilize a dog. Doctors recommend performing the operation for dogs older than 7-9 years, regardless of whether there has been a history of childbirth. The procedure is associated with an increased risk of tumors in aging dogs. Early sterilization before 5 months, on the contrary, harms the growing body.

For boys, a castration procedure is performed. Owners are free to choose when to neuter their dogs. The main thing is the health of the pet; an old but healthy dog can undergo surgery more easily than a young but sick one. It is better to castrate a young animal at maturity. After 7 years, if the dog is healthy, surgery is not recommended.

It happens that dogs end up in our house completely by accident. For example, we saw an abandoned puppy on the street, took pity on it and took it home or gave it to someone without knowing its age. But it is simply necessary to know how long a dog has lived, especially if it is small. The health of a puppy depends, first of all, on nutrition and physical activity, which in turn are closely related to age. Therefore, it is very important to know how to determine the age of a puppy.

How to find out the age of a puppy?

Each period of a dog’s life corresponds to changes in the body that are displayed externally. For example, in babies, their ears open in the first week of life, and their eyes open in the second week. The puppy's first teeth (upper canines and incisors) begin to emerge only in the third week. During this same period, the baby is able to stand on his paws, and we can observe his first games.

The most accurate way to determine the age of a puppy is by looking at its teeth, since teeth grow very quickly and it is difficult to make a mistake. When a dog is one month old, he usually has all his front teeth. Milk teeth differ from permanent teeth in being smaller in size and inferior in strength.

Replacement of teeth in puppies begins with the loss of the toes, and then the middle incisors. This period corresponds to the dog being 3 months old. At four months, the margins and premolars begin to fall out. And from the age of five months, a change of fangs occurs, and teeth erupt in the place of which there were no milk teeth. The entire process of changing teeth is completed in the seventh month of life of our four-legged friends. At what age does a dog puppy depend on the number of teeth. If a puppy has 28, then an adult dog has 42.

Other signs of a dog's age

Young dogs have a shiny and thick coat. Unlike mature ones, they are very active, love to frolic and play, and have excellent eyesight.

However, based on the signs indicating to what age a puppy grows to become an adult, it is impossible to say very accurately how many months the puppy is. There will always be some deviations from the truth. After all, a dog’s life and its appearance depend on its environment, food and even breed.

Dog breeders, who for some reason do not know how old their animals are, often wonder how to determine the age of a dog. We may surprise you, but there are not many options for determining the age of a pet. In this article we will tell you how to do this.

Dog-human: age ratio

As we know, pets do not live long enough compared to human age. Animals have their own standards of calculation. So how can a breeder find out and calculate how old a dog is?

As a result of numerous studies, breeding specialists became aware of the age characteristics of pets, in particular dogs. Juveniles by 12 months of age are shown to develop into human adolescence. That is, if you do not know how to determine the age of a puppy, then by 1 year it will be approximately 16 human years.

It should be noted right away that in this case a lot depends on the breed of the dog itself, as well as its dimensions. It has been scientifically proven that larger individuals live several years less; accordingly, the age ratio will be different, see the table for details.

Table of correspondence between human and dog ages

As practice shows, at this time pets need love from humans more than ever. They require more attention and care than adults. In addition, at this time puppies are better able to be raised and trained. This is why experienced dog breeders recommend starting training “from the cradle”. The puppy must master some commands already at 2-3 months, otherwise within a year he will be firmly sitting on his owner’s head.

But this does not mean that every year a puppy lives is considered 16 human years. For example, if the dog is already two years old, then age should be calculated according to a different principle. In this case, in human years, the dog will be about 23-25 years old. In practice, when a dog crosses this line, it will be extremely difficult to re-educate him.

One of the main features is that by the age of three, the process of growing up of individuals slows down significantly. Veterinarians, after the dog is two years old, consider one year lived by a person to be seven dog years. In general, it is impossible to know and count accurately, since all experts put forward different versions regarding this issue.

It is believed that representatives of small breeds are able to live longer lives, unlike large animals. In particular, if the conditions for their maintenance are identical.

Changes in dog teeth depending on age

Ways to determine a pet's age

We have roughly figured out how to determine the age of a puppy. Experienced specialists are reliably aware of all the features of this process. But in fact, usually none of the options can give an accurate result of how old the pet is. Therefore, all methods, as a rule, are used in combination, that is, in any case, a specialist will need to carefully examine the animal. And based on the results obtained, correspondences are established.

If you want to know more accurately how old your dog is, there are a few important things you need to know first. It is necessary to take into account what diseases the pet suffered from, what kind of care was provided to it, and what the general situation was like in the family where the dog lived. As practice shows, the most accurate results can be obtained by determining the age of an animal using its teeth. But in addition to this, methods for examining the coat and eyes are also used, and in some cases the muscles are examined.

Tough

As stated above, the method that gives the most accurate results is a dental examination (the author of the video is the Main Farming Portal FARMER).

Therefore, if you are wondering how to determine the age of a dog by its teeth, you should consider some features, in particular regarding teething:

before the age of 20 days, the puppy has no teeth at all;
at 25-35 days, first two fangs appear on top, then 2 fangs on the bottom;
at about a month and a half, the animal develops six more incisors;
at 50 days two molars should erupt;
at 60 days the third molar appears;
at 4.5 months, milk hooks should change to permanent ones;
at 5 months, another tooth appears in the lower jaw, as well as a fourth molar in total;
at 6 months, the pet’s milk teeth should be replaced by permanent ones, at the same time the fifth molar erupts;
at 7 months the sixth molar erupts;
at the age of up to 14 months, puppies already have, as a rule, three incisors above and below, there are no abrasions;
at 2-3 years old, pets already develop tartar, and the enamel begins to turn yellow;
at 5 years the incisors should wear off;
at 6 years old the entire jaw should completely turn yellow;
at the age of 7 the fangs become worn out;
At 10-12 years old, the crowns of the teeth wear off.

In total, four-legged friends should have 28 teeth, and when they change, then all 42. As you can guess, the younger the dog, the easier it is to find out exactly how old he is based on his features. In practice, experienced breeders, both in nurseries and veterinarians, can determine the age with an accuracy of one month. Of course, if the dog is no more than three years old.

Teeth can remain white for quite a long time, so you shouldn’t be guided by yellow plaque.

Learn more about how dogs cut and change teeth in the video below (video author: The Yorkmir).

But one of the key difficulties in this case is malocclusion. It can be either acquired or congenital. If this is the case, then you will have to follow other techniques.

By coat

Another option is by coat, which is optimal for pets with malocclusion. Wool is used for these purposes. Although it should be borne in mind that the characteristics of vegetation on an animal’s body primarily depend on how the animal eats and how it is cared for. This method can give the most accurate result with a comprehensive diagnosis.

As a rule, younger individuals have a soft and silky coat, which begins to fade over time. It may also cease to be homogeneous. Typically, the older the dog, the more likely it is that its fur will stick out in different directions.

Of course, gray hair that appears on a dog’s coat can indicate a lot. If we take into account the pigmentation characteristics of some organisms, sometimes animals can have grayish hair as early as three years old. If the dog grows and is kept under normal conditions, then gray hair can appear at 6-7 years of age, usually first visible on the beard and around the lips.

By the eyes

Everyone knows that a person’s eyes can say a lot, and in the case of a dog they are no exception. If the dog is young, then clarity and sparkle will always be visible in his eyes. Looking into the eyes of a puppy, you will see that the dog will always be ready to communicate and play, this can simply be read in the pet’s gaze.

Over the years, the animal's gaze begins to dim. It may become duller and not as transparent as in juveniles. Sometimes older pets may experience tearing, but don't forget that older pets can also get sick.

Accordingly, as with the eyes, you can determine the approximate age of the animal’s temperament. For example, everyone knows that young individuals are more prone to an active lifestyle. Puppies always love to play and have fun with their humans. Older individuals can also be active, but the difference compared to puppies is significant.

Why do we need to know a dog's age?

In general, we have figured out how to determine the age of an animal. But why does a person need this information? At first glance, it may seem that such a question comes to a person’s mind only out of interest.

But there are several reasons when it is very important to know about it:

if you purchased or found an animal and its age is unknown to you;
if documents for a pet, in particular a passport, were lost, then this data may be required to restore them;
to know exactly what schedule to take vaccines and preventive vaccinations;
if you decide to castrate your dog or undergo a sterilization procedure, it is also important to know how old the animal is;
often this information is required so that the owner can know how to properly care for the pet;
if the dog is too old, he cannot be exposed to the same active physical activity as young individuals - they will need to be significantly reduced;
Sometimes experts recommend reviewing a dog's feeding diet when it turns eight years old.

How to convert dog age to human age.

When communicating with his smart pet, the dog owner may have a completely natural question regarding the level of development of his four-legged friend. How old is your pet, measured in human years? How to convert a dog's age to a human one and how many years are still left to enjoy communication with an older pet?
It will not be possible to adjust the age of a dog to the corresponding age of a person, because the aging process of a dog is different from that of a human. But there are several systems for converting dog age to human age. From the article, you will learn how to determine the age of a dog using special methods: using a simplified method, using a table of the correspondence between a dog’s age and a person’s age (calculation is made using certain coefficients).

How to convert a dog's age to a human one, how many years do dogs have in a year of life by human standards: calculation

1st option for calculating a dog’s age by human standards (simplified):

According to this technique, 1 year of a dog’s life is equivalent to 7 human years.

Historical reference:

In the mid-twentieth century, veterinarians equated a dog's age to a human's, based on the following simple ratio: a person lives on average 70 years, and the life expectancy of a dog is 10 years, which means that one dog year is equal to 7 human years.

This widespread ratio leaves some social features unaccounted for:

The first 20 years of a person’s life are spent in full or partial dependence on their parents. During this period, a person learns the norms of morality and behavior in society, undergoes training in educational institutions, a new family is not created, and there is no need to talk about the birth of offspring at all - the breeding function becomes available much later.
In the living world, everything works differently. For a one-year-old pet, whose age in human standards corresponds to 15 years, such a lifestyle is a real luxury, because performing all work functions is quite accessible to him. The animal learns to get food, take care of itself, and navigate the world around it. A two-year-old pet has already formed its character; physically by this time it is considered fully mature.

Calculating a dog's age by human standards using LeBeau's theory:

It just so happens that the authors of various theories for calculating the age of pets in accordance with human standards are not scientists, not zoologists, but veterinarians. The latter spend all their working time next to their four-legged pets, without delving into data analysis, numbers and the results of long-term studies.
French veterinarian A. LeBeau is the author of the theory named after him, which takes into account the rapid rate of development of the level of social intelligence of a young dog in the first year of life. LeBeau made his conclusions based on the growth and development characteristics of people and dogs. The period of puberty of humans and pets, the period of maturity, as well as life expectancy were compared.
According to LeBeau's theory, the development level of a one-year-old pet can be equated to human age, corresponding to 15 years, and at two years, the development of a pet can be correlated with 24 years of human age. One year of a dog’s life during this period is 9 human years; after the first two years of life, 4 human years are “added” to the pet’s age.

French veterinarian A. LeBeau is the author of a theory that takes into account the rapid pace of development of a puppy in the first year of life

What did LeBeau leave out in his theory?

The French veterinarian, taking into account the calculation of age, did not take into account the influence of the size of his four-legged charges on the characteristics of their level of development.

Clayburgh's Law

In accordance with the second theory, the age of a four-legged pet is calculated in accordance with Clayberg's "three-quarters" metabolic law. The law also turned out to be untenable.
The reason is this: the basal metabolic rate depends on the weight of the body.
There is a pattern here: the larger the animal, the longer its life expectancy. But with dogs, Clayberg’s law does not “work”, and the dependence of weight on the number of years lived is the opposite: dogs of small breeds live longer under normal conditions.
However, there are some truthful points in Clayberg's law: with warm-blooded animals, the pattern of growth and metabolic rate is not in doubt.
For example, if you compare the life expectancy of a mouse and an elephant. According to this scale, the dog occupies the middle place allocated by law. The age of a four-legged pet will not always correlate equally with a human, because not only weight, but also the breed of the pet has an influence.

According to Clayberg's law, the larger the animal, the longer its life expectancy.

The age of a 78-year-old person corresponds to:

10 years old dog, if it is a giant breed
12 years of age if the pet is a large breed
14 years of age if the pet is of a medium breed
15-16 years of age if the pet is a small breed

Based on the above, we can draw a conclusion regarding the inverse general dependence of the phenomenon within species (for example, mice, horses, people). If we talk about dogs, then dependence is expressed most clearly.

What Clayberg didn't take into account:

The lifespan of an animal is also related to its heart rate. This is a rule common to members of the Animal Kingdom. 1 billion cuts is the lifespan of an animal. Small dog breeds live longer and have a higher heart rate.
According to Clayberg's law, the life expectancy of an 80-kilogram mastiff should exceed the life expectancy of a 2-kilogram Chihuahua by 2.5 times. However, in fact, everything is different: a dog of such a large breed lives 1.5 times less.
This can be explained this way: the insulin-like growth factor IGF-1 is released into the body throughout life, which cannot be said about growth hormone. Small breed dogs have higher concentrations of IGF-1. As a result, programmed cell death slows down and the dog’s body is not subject to age-related diseases, which means aging slows down.

The lifespan of an animal is also related to its heart rate. This is a common rule among members of the Animal Kingdom.

Modern system for converting human life into dog life:

Modern gerontological scientists base their conclusions on the fact that age-related changes in a dog are related to its size. Therefore, you should not equate the eight-year age of a dachshund with the same age of a mastino. Yes, it’s not a completely logical approach, because age-related changes in people are the same, regardless of height and constitution. But an objective assessment of a dog’s age is possible if the breeds are divided into several weight categories.

An objective assessment of a dog's age is possible if breeds are divided into several weight categories

The first group includes dogs of small breeds whose weight does not exceed 10 kg (Chihuahua, Toy Terrier, Miniature Poodle, Shih Tzu, Japanese Chin)
The second group includes dogs of medium breeds whose weight reaches 10-25 kg (setters, bulldogs)
The third group includes dogs of large breeds, weighing from 25 to 45 kg (Afghan hound, Labrador)
The last group includes giant dogs weighing more than 45 kg (mastiff, great dane)

The first few years of life (3-4 years) the development of dogs, regardless of breed and size, is the same. During this period, three years of a dog's life correspond to 28 human years.

After this, the next stage begins for the giant dog - aging. The body ages without slowing down. If a dog is medium-sized, then its body ages more slowly, and in very small dogs the rate of aging is as slow as possible.

After the pet turns 3 years old, you can add 4 years to its age with each subsequent year by human standards.

What is the rate of aging in small breeds? After the pet turns 3 years old, you can add 4 years by human standards to its age with each subsequent year.

For a medium breed dog, 4.5 years are added when recalculating, for a large breed dog - an increase in age of 5 years.

How to determine the age of a dog by human standards: table of the age of a dog and a person

Using the table, you can independently determine the dog’s age in human terms, using the coefficient:

Video: How to find out the age of a dog. Actual age according to dog physiology

How many years do dogs live and should they live?

The lifespan of a dog, as mentioned above, is influenced by many factors. These include the pet’s height, weight, and health status. However, the existing injustice is this: the lifespan of our lovely four-legged pets, the most devoted and beloved, is short-lived compared to the life expectancy of other pets. If we talk about parrots, some species in good conditions live up to 70 years, turtles, provided they are properly maintained, live 50 and 200 years.

How to determine the biological age of a dog?

The main stages of dog development occur in the first two years of life. At six months, a puppy's development can be compared to the age of a five-year-old child. In human terms, the most difficult period of adolescence is the first year of a dog’s life.

At the age of two, the development of a dog by human standards corresponds to the age of 24, and at the age of 3 or 5 years the pet is already considered fully formed. This age is considered the period of canine maturity, and at the age of 9 the pet is already considered old. A 15-year-old dog is a real long-liver.

Video: Age of the dog

Long-lived dogs: records, breeds

Long-lived dog breeds:

Yorkshire Terriers live up to 14-16 years.
Poodles live up to 12-15 years.
The Maltese Bichon can live up to 12-14 years.
The Miniature Schnauzer lives up to 14 years.

One of the longest-living record holders is the dog Blue (owner - Lev Ball). The dog spent his entire life in the Australian city of Rochester and helped shepherds. The dog lived to be 28 years and 11 months.