How Do I Calculate my Dog’s Age in Human Years?

Wondering how to calculate your dog’s age in human years? There are a couple approaches.

Old Method to Calculate Dog’s Age in Human Years

The old approach for calculating your dog’s birthday is 7 dog years for each human year. That’s based on humans living to be about 70 and dogs living to be about 10.

But humans are living longer than ever, and how long dogs live depends on the breed. So as you can see, that’s not the best way to calculate your dog’s age.

New Way to Calculate Your Dog’s Age in Human Years

In November 2019, scientists at University of California San Diego published a new method to calculate your dog’s age in human years. It matches up various changes in DNA, nerve development and hormonal changes during aging, all common among mammals.

This new method of converting dog years to human years has a 7 week old puppy as the equivalent to a 9 month old child, based on when certain teeth emerge. After a dog is over a year, the age can be simply calculated by converting the dog age into a natural logarithm, multiplying that by 16 and adding 31.

BOL (Bark out loud). I’ve never been great at math.

So instead, use this dog age calculator and dog year chart for easy reference:

DOGust – The Universal Birthday for Shelter Dogs

While we’re talking about dog age, we also must touch on dog birthdays. Because dogs need to be celebrated!

If you have a pound hound like me, you don’t know exactly when your dog was born. That’s why “Dogust” was created.

Dogust, celebrated August 1, is the universal birthday for shelter dogs. You can use August 1st as your marker for your dog’s birthday!

My Favorite Way to Calculate a Dog’s Age

As for me? I don’t worry about how old my dogs are in human years. I just know the approximate lifespan based on their breed, and work to make sure they are healthy.

We get an annual check-up every year and shot updates, including leptospirosis, since they like to drink from puddles. And I check for lumps and bumps when I give each dog their belly rubs and scritches.

I celebrate Doug’s birthday based on the day I found him wandering the streets in August 2010. The vet said he was around 1 when I found him, so he’s 11 this year. Tammy is my foster fail from October 2014. She was 3 months old when I got her, so she’s an August 2014 baby.

You can easily plan your dog’s birthday party (or adoptaversary) in Houston. We had a great time with Doug and Tammy’s dog birthday party at Joasis-Houston. Or get some treats and a dog birthday cake from The Doggie Express and have a diy dog party at home.

Our dogs are only with us for a short time. Make every day count!