Dog to Human Years, Multiplying Your Dog’s Age by 7 Proven to Be a Myth
I think everybody has heard that myth about calculating your dog's age into human years. The old myth was if you multiply your dog's age by 7, that's how old your dog would be in human years.
So in other words if your dog is 5 years old, that would mean your dog has aged to 35 in human years. But new research from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine has come up with a formula that is much more accurate in comparing your dog's age in human years.
The researchers studied the age of the cells in a dog's body to more accurately compare their aging process to that of a human. The research shows that dogs make their biggest leap in their first year of life. The researchers say that by the time your dog is 1 year old, they're basically like a 30 year old person. Their aging starts to slow down after that.
According to the report, at Age 2, dogs are around 40 in human years, and by the time your dog reaches the age of four, it's like being a 52 year old human.
Researchers say that when a dog reaches the age of 10, it's more like being 70 in human years, and that they start aging about one human year for every year of life after that.
The scientists that conducted the tests are hopeful that the research will help veterinarians to properly attend to an aging dogs needs.
You can read the results of the study here.