How Old is My Dog in Human Years

No more multiply by 6 or 7 to convert your dog's age in human years: Scientists found that dogs age very quickly during their first five years and much more slowly later on. A new study by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found a new formula to estimate dog's age in human years. The formula is based on the changing patterns of methyl groups in dog and human genomes as they age. Only limitation of the new formula is that the study was conducted only on a single breed of dog, Labrador Retrievers, which has a life expectancy of 12 years. Many other dog breeds have longer life expectancy and may have different rates of aging than Labrador Retrievers.

According to the study, 2-6 months(Juvenile stage) in dogs is equivalent to 1-12 years in humans; Adolescent stage(the period from puberty to completion of growth), 6 months to 2 years in dogs, is approximately 12-25 years in humans; Mature stage, 2-7 years in dogs, is equivalent to 25-50 years in humans; Senior refers to the subsequent period until life expectancy, 12 years in dogs(for Labrador Retrievers), 70 years in humans.

This classification does not exactly reflect with the formula, 16 ln(dog_age) + 31, since 1 year in dog age translates to 31 years old in humans. Although the formula is scientifically proven, we feel that the classification above makes more sense to us.

Hence, for this dog age calculator app, we use the classification as a basis to create our own equations. We tried to make it close to the classification of age stages but cannot guarantee the accuracy. Well, we develop this app for fun to give a rough idea how old my dog may be. We are saying this to ensure that this app DOES NOT USE scientifically proven methods thus does not guarantee accuracy of the ages.

For more information of the study, please click the link in the app.

We hope you enjoy this app and thank you for your interest.