I had always understood that one “dog year” equaled 7 “human years”. I guess that this means either the life expectancy of dogs is increasing, or that of humans is decreasing. Or maybe the other way around, I get coinfused.
The 1 dog year = 7 human years is a very crude approximation. The reality is closer to the 15-10-3 formula. The first year of a dog’s life is 15 years, the second is 10 and each year there after is 3. Now even this formula is pretty crude, since the real life expectancy depends on the size of the dog. Larger dogs live less, Great Danes rarely exceed 8. That said, this old guy making it to 21 (what I assume the reporter was saying) would be pretty old. The oldest dog ever documented was an Australian Cattle dog which lived to 29 (and she herded into her 20’s).
No matter how long they live, it’s always hard to say goodbye to them! I have a wonderful prayer on my wall that says: “Lord, make me the person my dog thinks I am!”
The record keepers may find themselves scratching their heads. The dog was 21 calendar years old when she died. Entering 21 in the online calculator Kendall posted above, based on formulas used by many science folks, the dog was the human equivalent of only about 97 years old — not the 147 years mentioned in the AP and other news stories, which used the traditional formula of 1 dog year = 7 human years.
According to this
http://www.onlineconversion.com/dogyears.htm
the dog is over 33 years old in human years.
I had always understood that one “dog year” equaled 7 “human years”. I guess that this means either the life expectancy of dogs is increasing, or that of humans is decreasing. Or maybe the other way around, I get coinfused.
The 1 dog year = 7 human years is a very crude approximation. The reality is closer to the 15-10-3 formula. The first year of a dog’s life is 15 years, the second is 10 and each year there after is 3. Now even this formula is pretty crude, since the real life expectancy depends on the size of the dog. Larger dogs live less, Great Danes rarely exceed 8. That said, this old guy making it to 21 (what I assume the reporter was saying) would be pretty old. The oldest dog ever documented was an Australian Cattle dog which lived to 29 (and she herded into her 20’s).
No matter how long they live, it’s always hard to say goodbye to them! I have a wonderful prayer on my wall that says: “Lord, make me the person my dog thinks I am!”
Kendall and all,
The record keepers may find themselves scratching their heads. The dog was 21 calendar years old when she died. Entering 21 in the online calculator Kendall posted above, based on formulas used by many science folks, the dog was the human equivalent of only about 97 years old — not the 147 years mentioned in the AP and other news stories, which used the traditional formula of 1 dog year = 7 human years.
w.w.
What? The owners didn’t warehouse the dog in a retirement center to help keep it happy and active. Bad owners.