Talk:Aging in dogs

The two terminologies again
It seems a lot of people here are confused by the two ways the terms "dog year" and "human year" are used. And the references were lost in a simplification of the terminology section a while back.

FWIW I've just done a Google search. On looking at the top 20 hits, I've found that
 * these use terminology 1:
 * http://www.patsyann.com/school/years.htm
 * http://www.dogster.com/dog-health-care/calculate-dog-age-in-dog-years (though it doesn't use the term again after the title)
 * http://www.dogage.info/
 * http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1053471/The-worlds-oldest-dog-dies-age-203-canine-years.html


 * these use terminology 2:
 * http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/age.htm
 * http://www.calculatorcat.com/free_calculators/dog_years.phtml
 * http://www.france-property-and-information.com/dog-years-to-human-years-age.htm
 * http://www.dog-food-corner.com/dog-years-human-years-age.htm (seems to be a mirror of the above)
 * http://www.dogpack.com/misc/dogyears.htm
 * http://www.dogyears.com/
 * http://www.pedigree.com/02All-Things-Dog/Dog-Age-Calculator/
 * http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/how-to-calculate-your-dogs-age
 * http://www.coolmath.com/calculators/dogyears.htm


 * these contradict themselves, or seem to, by mixing the two systems:
 * http://www.onlineconversion.com/dogyears.htm
 * http://www.purina.co.za/Home/All+About+Dogs/Living+Together+Dog/Get+More+Out+Of+Life+Dog/Your+Dogs+Age+In+Human+Years
 * http://www.maxiebeagle.com/dogage.htm


 * and a few others don't clearly use one or the other

OK, so the maxiebeagle one uses terminology 1 only in acknowledgement of the popular myth, so it isn't clear whether it has made the error or is trying to claim the use of terminology 1 as being part of the myth. But anyway, it seems to me that, although system 1 may be the popularly used one, system 2 is actually supported by more sources. — Smjg (talk) 12:43, 5 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Moreover, it seems obvious to me that, in terminology 1 at least, "dog year" and "human year" are informal terms. A year is the time it takes a planet to orbit its star; to claim that from a dog's point of view the earth orbits the sun in a seventh of this time is nonsense.  Neither do I suppose it's the way the dogs themselves measure age.  "Dog year" is just a phrase coined to represent the idea that, since dogs get through their lives much faster than we humans do, their units of age must be smaller than ours.
 * On the other hand, terminology 2 makes logical sense (non-linearity and breed dependence aside) and has a parallel in such terms as "light year", and so might sanely be used in popular science literature. — Smjg (talk) 15:45, 31 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Tempest in a teapot, and outmoded. Seriously, are we going to count NUMBER of web sites that echo each other? We're talking about colloquial usage among humans, which changes, so a survey of "top" hits should be sifted to cull older ones. Maybe use only those in the most recent 5 years, and update to omit dead links. But a better system is to use WP:RS such as AKC. So I cut this entire extraneous section. Martindo (talk) 20:08, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

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how many 20 year old dogs around?
I have got a Bichon that's over 20 years old. He has always gone to the same animal hospital so we have his records. If the chihuahua dies does he have a shot at being the oldest dog or are there a lot of other old timers around. 24.181.176.27 (talk) 15:26, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

The current record is over 30 years by a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:A601:A183:8600:A051:C9AA:632E:3CB6 (talk) 15:18, 26 April 2023 (UTC)

Bad math
I cut some old and casual sources which said things like 1 year=10.5 years, with reproduction starting at 13-15 months (which would be age 11-13 for a human). If we really want to beef up this page with some research, we should find studies that show active dogs live longer -- that might be why the Aussie ones which run free are some of the oldest dogs on record. Martindo (talk) 20:11, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

Someone should update the graph from a WP:RS, too. Martindo (talk) 20:12, 25 October 2023 (UTC)