Since the life spans of other breeds vary, further studies are needed to find out the real age of every very good dog, the scientists say. The study focused only on yellow Labrador retrievers. Although this new calculation seems to be more accurate than the previous 7-to-1 year ratio, its still only. For large dogs, add 6 to their equivalent human age, and for very large dogs, add 7 to their equivalent human age after their real age passes 5 years. The new equation also lines up the average life span of a Lab - 12 years - with the average 70-year human life span. For medium dogs, add 5 to their equivalent human age past their real age of 5 years. A 1-year-old dog corresponds to around 31 human years, and a 4-year-old dog is closer to a 53-year-old human. An 8-week-old puppy is roughly the same age as a 9-month-old human. Early in life, puppies develop much faster than humans, but as dogs get older, their aging curve begins to flatten. The relationship between human and dog years changes over time, the scientists found. In this case, the researchers compared the methylation states of 320 humans, ages 1 to 103 years, with those of 104 Labrador retrievers, ages 5 weeks to 16 years. Scientists can even compare changes across species. These changes track with different stages of growth and can be used to determine biological age. Īs animals get older, tiny chemical tags called methyl groups get added and removed from DNA. Researchers report this new canine age formula online July 2 in Cell Systems. “I have a six-year-old dog - she still runs with me, but I’m now realizing that she’s not as ‘young’ as I thought she was,” Ideker is quoted as saying.To estimate your dog’s age in human years, multiply the dog’s age by seven, right? Wrong.Ī more accurate conversion isn’t so easy to do in your head: Multiply the natural logarithm of the dog’s age by 16, then add 31. Researchers also believe that observing changes in the methylation patterns before and after the use of anti-aging products could help veterinarians make more informed decisions in terms of diagnostics and treatment.Ī graphic in the study makes the age comparisons intuitive and provides some helpful context for dog owners, including the scientists themselves. The new formula “is the first that is transferable across species,” and scientists plan to test their findings on other dog breeds to study the impact of longevity on their findings, according to a release. The rate of aging decreases after dogs turn 7. “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,” lead author Trey Ideker is quoted as saying.īased on the study, a one-year-old dog compares to a 30-year-old human, a four-year-old dog to a 52-year-old human. The American Veterinary Medical Association says regardless of size or breed, puppies age the equivalent of 15 human years in their first year of life. Tracking molecular changes in the DNA of Labrador retrievers, and in particular “the changing patterns of methyl groups” in their genome, according to a release, the study shows how dogs age at a much faster rate than humans early in their lives, then slow down after reaching maturity. Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new formula that takes into account that variance. And that’s because the scientists behind a new study say dogs and humans don’t age at the same rate. So, what takes us years to do, dogs are biologically ready for in half a year. Unlike humans, who take about 12 to 13 years to reach puberty, dogs can reproduce by the age of 6 months. How do you compare a dog’s age to that of a person? A popular method says you should multiply the dog’s age by 7 to compute how old Fido is in “human years.”īut new research published Thursday in the Cell Systems journal debunks that method. The most obvious one is that all biological processes in dogs occur at an accelerated pace.
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