How to calculate your dog's age in human years (Pssst ... don’t just multiply by 7)
- Scientists have debunked the popular rule of thumb by studying 106 Labrador retrievers
- Amazingly, a one-year-old dog is similar to a 31-year-old human
Trying to figure out your dog’s age in human years? People used to say just multiply by seven. A new study says that is not accurate.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and other leading health institutions across the US have now debunked that common belief.
The real equation is a little more complicated.
The results show that, when dogs are young, especially within their first five years, they age even more rapidly than humans.
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“This makes sense when you think about it – after all, a nine-month-old dog can have puppies, so we already knew that the 1:7 ratio wasn’t an accurate measure of age,” said the study’s senior co-author Trey Ideker.
Ideker and his colleagues studied 104 Labrador retrievers. According to their findings, a one-year-old dog is similar to a 31-year-old human. A five-year-old dog, for example, is like a 57-year-old human.
The report’s presented equation to use is: human age = 16 In (dog age) + 31
For iPhone calculators, first input the dog’s age. Then click the natural logarithm (or ln) function. Multiply that result by 16. Then add 31.