The Real Way to Calculate Your Dog’s Age in Human Years

Calculating dog years to human years isn’t as simple as multiplying by seven. Use our handy chart to determine the human age equivalent of your pet’s age. By Marty Becker, DVM Advertisement Pin FB More Tweet Email Send Text Message Print

The old human-to-dog-years formula (one year of a dog's life is equal to seven years of human life) never really worked quite right. It's more accurate to think of the first year of dogs' lives as just getting them over the first big jump of adolescence. The second year brings them close to full adult maturity physically, although as in humans, mental maturity may still be on the horizon.

photo of older dog with snapshot of puppy self over top Credit: Artur Debat / Getty

From there, it really depends on the kind of dog in question. Size and breed matter when it comes to aging. Roughly put, you can consider Great Danes to be senior citizens at 7, but Chihuahuas may not reach that milestone until they're at least 11.

Use the dog years to human years chart below to figure out how old your dog is.

dog growth chart Credit: adekvat / Getty

A version of this article first appeared in Happy Paws Spring/Summer 2020.