How to find out how old a dog is: all the details from the cynologist. Dog age: how to find out and why this information is important Life expectancy of different breeds

There are many unscrupulous owners. Some people inattentively follow the animals - the dogs run away, others throw the animal that does not suit them into the street. When a dog is found, the question arises how to determine the age of the dog. This is necessary for examination by a veterinarian, vaccination, to create an announcement about a foundling, in order to know how to care for, what to feed and how much to walk.

To determine the age of the pet examine. In humans, as they grow older, aging, special signs appear, similar to what happens in animals. A puppy is not to be confused with an old animal. Veterinarians know how to determine the age of a dog more precisely by external signs. And among dogs there are centenarians. The oldest dog died at 29, but this is a rare exception. Most dogs live 10-16 years.

The second common question of pet owners related to age is whether it is possible to correlate with a human. Knowledge is not very important, but interesting. The age of a dog by human standards can be approximately calculated by the coefficients or looked more precisely in special charts.

Comparison of human and canine age

Knowing the average life expectancy of a person and a dog, it is easy to determine the conversion factor as 7 human years for 1 dog. A rough estimate is given. In fact, the human age of a dog cannot be calculated according to this scheme.


The puppy is developing quickly. In the first year of life, he manages to catch up with a 16-year-old teenager in development. For this reason, increased attention is shown to puppies. It is recommended to devote a lot of time to education and proper feeding, or time will be lost. The exact age of a puppy is easy to determine by observing the stages of development. At 2 years old, the dog will be 24 by human standards. Then growth slows down.

Medium and small pets age more slowly than large and giant ones. Medium-sized dogs are considered centenarians; traumatic injuries to dogs are less likely. Small pets go through 5 human years in a year, large ones - 6, the largest - 7 years.

14 years of a big dog is 108 years of a human. The ratio of the age of the dog and the person helps to establish the rules of care. From the age of 8, it is customary to consider dogs old, indeed, at the age of 55-66 people retire, workloads decrease, nutrition changes. The coefficient shows that small breeds are able to live longer.

How to determine age by teeth

An accurate method for determining age is by examining canine teeth. Like humans, animal teeth change once in a lifetime. According to the state, it will be possible to approximately calculate the number of years. An accurate assessment is possible if the dog has a correct bite, the animal was kept in good conditions, without serious illnesses. The age of the dog by the teeth helps to establish the number of full years for pets without accompanying documents.

For puppyhood, the following patterns apply:

  • The newborn has no teeth. Milk hooks and fangs will begin to be cut on the 20-25th day. Incisors appear in 30-35 days, milk molars a little later. At 1-2 months, the puppy has a complete set of teeth, if there are no deviations. Usually puppies are kept by their mothers for up to 2-3 months.
  • The second stage of determining age is the change of teeth. The hooks, or front incisors, change first at 2-4 months, depending on the breed. 3-5 months - the time of change of straight cutters - medium incisors, up to 4-6 months the edges change and about the 6th month new fangs grow.
  • Final stage. As dogs grow, teeth change. Indigenous and pseudo-root change, the remaining teeth grow. In a year the dog has a full set of teeth, the beast is large and muscular. Only the hair is short. A one-year-old pet has snow-white teeth with characteristic tubercles.

In large dogs, the change from milk to molars is faster. Diseases, cupping of the ears are capable of slowing down the course. Described slows down the development of the puppy as a whole.


In the future, to determine the age of the quadruped, they look at the abrasion of the tubercles. Young incisors and molars show specific bulges, in the form of a trefoil, disappearing as they grow older. To specify the number of years, look at the form:

  • 2 years - tubercles on the hooks on the lower jaw are erased;
  • 4 years - tubercles on the upper hooks are erased, the color of the enamel becomes dull;
  • 5 years - tubercles are erased from the incisors, yellowing of the enamel is noticeable. Fangs become a little blunt;
  • 6 years old - worn incisors acquire a concave shape, it is difficult to determine the correct bite:
  • 8-10 years - the crowns have time to wear out, the fangs are short and blunt, the teeth are yellow;
  • older age - teeth loosen and fall out, tartar is visible, caries is possible.

There are many factors that contribute to tooth decay. The correspondence between the age of the dog and the person is well traced by the teeth. The older the pet, the more likely it is to have dental disease. Older pets are often specially cemented, strengthen their teeth so as not to wear out. Carry out procedures for the treatment of caries, the removal of plaque and tartar.

Teeth wear out faster than expected in dogs with malocclusion. The scissor type speeds up the process by 2 times. Undershot helps to keep hooks on the lower jaw. Accelerates abrasion of teeth diarrhea of ​​hard things, stones or iron. Often in kennels, dogs gnaw on iron bars, which accelerates tooth wear. It is undesirable to give hard bones to dogs often. And soft food leaves its mark - the teeth become brittle, loose and prone to caries, the formation of tartar.

Other Ways to Estimate Your Dog's Age

Physical examination is used to determine age. If the teeth did not give a complete picture, or there is a high probability of making a mistake, look at:

  1. Muscle tone. The young age of a person and a dog will show a healthy body: well-developed muscles, activity. The young dog will run more than sleep. Older dogs will prefer to sleep longer and walk less. Elderly people develop muscle atrophy or obesity.
  2. Wool cover. A clean, silky and soft coat is inherent in a young animal. The older the dog, the harder the coat, the faster it gets dirty. If the color is dark, in an elderly dog, gray hair is visible on the muzzle near the lips. This is a subjective assessment of the age of the dog, the condition is strongly influenced by the conditions of detention and nutrition. Some breeds are generally devoid of wool.
  3. Eyes. Clarity and brilliance of the eyes are inherent in any dog ​​in puppyhood and age. The old dog's eyes are cloudy, dull and opaque. Eye diseases usually appear in older dogs.

Large dogs age faster. There is an individual process. Usually after 10 years various diseases appear. With proper care, your pet will live for a long time. An old dog needs special treatment.

Why know the age of a four-legged friend

To maintain normal dog health and prolong life, you need to know the age. First, it is needed by veterinarians for vaccination. Vaccinate dogs according to age. While young - annually, then less often, since immunity has already been developed, and an injection is an extra burden on the animal.

You need to know at what age to sterilize a dog. Doctors recommend surgery for dogs older than 7-9 years, regardless of the history of childbirth. The procedure is associated with an increased risk of developing tumors in aging dogs. Early sterilization up to 5 months, on the contrary, harms the growing body.

For boys, castration is performed. Owners are free to choose when to neuter their dogs. The main thing is the health of the pet, an old but healthy dog ​​is able to undergo surgery more easily than a young but sick one. It is better to castrate a young animal, at the time of maturation. After 7 years, if the dog is healthy, surgery is not recommended.

If the pet came into the family as an adult or a grown up puppy, then most owners are interested in the question of how to determine the age of the dog, and this is absolutely correct. After all, dogs of different ages have their own needs in both nutrition and walking and care.

There are a number of reasons why owners should know how old a pet is:

  • Firstly, it is necessary in order to instill your four-legged friend in time. Most vaccines are administered by age. A young animal is vaccinated every 12 months. But when it reaches maturity, it is carried out much less frequently, since the immune system at this age begins to weaken and the viruses introduced with the vaccine can harm the dog's body.
  • Second, to define . This is especially important for bitch owners to calculate.
  • Third, to calculate a convenient time for or . Not all people want to deal with offspring, so they resort to the services of veterinarians. But the fact is that too early surgery, as well as in old age, can harm the dog. Most veterinarians recommend performing this procedure at the age of 6-7 years, regardless of whether the dog has given birth or not. Many owners castrate or sterilize a pet in order to prolong its life cycle, to help avoid health problems - oncological formations, prostatitis, uterine prolapse, genital infections, etc.

In addition, it is necessary to be able to determine the age of dogs for those who volunteer, take home homeless animals, work in shelters and veterinary clinics. After all, when giving a four-legged friend to a new family, it is necessary to provide all the available information about him.

There are several options for calculating the age category of dogs.

The main methods for determining age

You should start with the fact that experts divide dogs into several age groups:

  • puppies - dogs from birth to two months;
  • young individuals - up to one and a half years;
  • adult dogs - over 18 months old.

Specialists most often use the method of evaluating a dog's teeth. This principle is based on the regularity of the appearance of teeth, their abrasion, and then the period of their change and abrasion of the permanent dentition. As with people, in dogs they change once, and if she lived in suitable conditions, had good nutrition and the right bite, then her teeth can be used to determine her age as accurately as possible.

How to determine the age of a dog by teeth? The following features are observed:

  • if there are no teeth in the oral cavity at all, then we are talking about a newborn baby, who is a maximum of two weeks old;
  • at three weeks, the puppy begins the process of teething;
  • the front incisors appear at the age of one month;
  • on the 35th day, the puppy's molars erupt while the milk teeth;
  • in a baby of 1-2 months, with normal development, the entire dentition is present.

If a puppy has not cut through all the teeth by two months, it means that he has significant health problems and it would not hurt to show him to the veterinarian.

The next age sign in dogs is the change of teeth:

  • In the period from 2 to 4 months, the front incisors change in puppies, including the hooks. Such a run-up in age is determined by the fact that in different breeds the change of teeth begins in different ways.
  • In the period from 3 to 5 months, the lateral and middle teeth are replaced.
  • By six months, the milk fangs fall out of the puppies, and the growth of new ones begins.
  • Complete replacement of teeth occurs by six, maximum eight months.

The final stage of calculating the age of puppies occurs at 12 months. The dog is already formed, has a muscular corset, and often there is a full-fledged coat (but not in all breeds). The teeth of one-year-old dogs are snow-white, with tubercles (they usually bite the dog) and resemble a serrated knife blade.

In the future, it is the tubercles, which have an unusual trident shape, that are the determining link for determining the age of the pet. It is at the level of their abrasion that professional veterinarians and dog handlers look, if you need to say how old the dog is. Their condition is divided into several stages:

  • Two years. At this time, the dog has abrasion of the tubercles on the lower hooks. After that, there are no significant changes.
  • Four years. By this period, the tubercles of the hooks on the upper jaw are erased, the enamel coating of the teeth loses its luster and becomes dull.
  • Five years. There is a complete erasure of the tubercles on all incisors, blunting of the fangs is often observed, the enamel acquires a noticeable yellow tint.
  • Six years. At this time, significant changes occur - the incisors change shape (have a concave), and determining the correct bite becomes very difficult. The enamel turns yellow even more.
  • Eight to ten years. The abrasion of the teeth is pronounced, the fangs become dull, the teeth, in addition to the obvious yellowness, may be covered with plaque. Often there is the formation of tartar.
  • Over ten years old. At this age, in dogs, teeth begin to loosen, fall out, and caries often occurs. This is the most obvious sign of the advanced age of the pet.

Other methods for determining age

If it is not possible to determine the age by the teeth, then you can try to do this by appearance and behavioral features:

  • A young pet has well-developed muscles, which can be felt when stroking. In addition, a young animal spends little time sleeping, being more in motion.
  • An old dog has a flabby muscular corset, obesity is often diagnosed. The dog quickly gets tired on walks, sleeps more. Noticeable calluses appear on the elbows and joints.

Such signs are very similar to human ones, because an old person is much less active than a young one.

Determination of age by the condition of the coat may not give reliable results, since coat is affected not only by age, but also by a lot of factors. In addition, some breeds do not have it at all.

But if there is a complex assessment of the qualities of a dog, then a silky coat with a sheen is a sign of a young animal. And if it is dull, heterogeneous, with gray hair (especially in the area of ​​​​the muzzle), then this may indicate that the animal is elderly. But you should also know that gray hair with pigmentation disorders can also be in young individuals.

You can try to determine the age of the pet by the eyes. A young dog has clear eyes, most often with a cheerful, mischievous gleam. The old dog has a certain turbidity of the eyes, especially the pupils, there is no transparency, there is no longer enthusiasm and playfulness, cheerful sparks in the look. Often the eyes become more deeply set, the animal may have a decrease in vision and various. But cloudiness of the eyeball can also signal the presence of an illness.

Many owners are interested in information on how to determine the age of a dog by human standards.

Modern experts have found out that the old system of calculation, where one year of a person is equal to seven years of a dog, is absolutely wrong. After all, the development of dogs proceeds differently in different life periods. For example, only in the first year of life, an animal undergoes a lot of changes - from a milk puppy to a sexually mature dog, that is, when compared with a person - from a newborn baby to a 16-year-old teenager. It turns out that the seven-year calculation is not at all suitable for these calculations.

At two years old, a dog corresponds to 25 human years, that is, it is already a fully developed, adult animal. That is, in a year a pet overcomes a ten-year human period, it becomes more serious and obedient, its behavior differs significantly from that of a puppy.

After two years, the development of a beloved pet slows down significantly. And it is from this time that a classic calculation can be made - 1 year is equal to 7. But even in this case, taking into account the individuality of the dog and its belonging to a particular breed, the result will be averaged.

Everyone knows that small breed dogs do not age as quickly as large ones, and their life cycle is much longer. Their age is calculated based on the fact that one year corresponds to five human years. Medium-sized dogs live six human years per year, and representatives of large breeds - seven.

Attentive attitude to your beloved dog, good and caring will help to keep her healthy and prolong youth.

Dogs born in the house of a responsible breeder must have documents. Most often, this is a puppy card or just a veterinary passport, where, in addition to vaccination data, the date of birth of the dog is entered. But what if the pet is found on the street or bought from the hands at the Bird Market, and there is no data on its age? In this case, a person has to determine for himself how old a four-legged friend is.

How to determine the age of a puppy

Determining the age of a small puppy is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. There are certain patterns by which a dog baby develops. And although the conditions of detention and the breed of the dog affect the rate of development, the main stages remain unchanged.

The smallest puppies

Most newborn puppies are very similar to each other. The umbilical cord, which is cut or cut off at birth, looks like a soft wet thread in the first two days of life. However, by the third or fourth day of life, it dries up and falls off, leaving behind a small tubercle in the center of the tummy.

At about the age of five to eight days, the baby's auditory canals open, and although the baby will be able to hear, in the full sense of the word, only by the end of the third week, right now, if you look closely, you can see that there are no more films covering the ear canal.

Ten to sixteen days after birth, newborns open their eyes. If puppies are artificially fed, this period can be delayed by 2-4 days, but in general, this is the time dogs begin to see.

After 21 days of life, the puppy gets up on its paws and takes the first independent steps. By the month he is already quite confidently moving around the den, arranging games with littermates and trying to eat on his own.

From about 20 days, when the first milk incisors erupt, and until old age, the dog's age is easiest to determine by the teeth. Other indirect signs of changes occurring over time can only complete the picture.

How to determine the age of a dog by teeth

Anterior milk teeth appear in the period from 20 to 35 days of life. Unlike permanent teeth, milk teeth are smaller, specific whitish, with a slight blueness, color and look more like small sharp needles.

young dog

Between the 4th and 5th month of life, the milk incisors will be replaced by permanent ones. The canines are next to change, and by 7-8 months the young dog has a full set of permanent teeth. In animals of large breeds, as a rule, teeth change faster. In addition, the conditions of detention, a balanced diet and the presence of essential minerals and vitamins in food also affect the speed of the shift.

In a year, the teeth of the animal reach the size inherent in the breed. A one-year-old dog has teeth of a rich snow-white color, they are distinguished by a healthy shine and sit tightly, without gaps, in the jaw. The incisors have three prominent lobes (called a trefoil) clearly visible at the top of the tooth.

Prime of life

1.5-3 years are characterized by the erasure of the upper, most prominent, lobe of the incisor. In addition, depending on the feeding and maintenance of the pet, at this age the first signs of hard plaque appear on the teeth and the enamel, previously flawlessly white, gradually acquires a light shade of ivory.

By the age of 4.5-5 years, the incisors completely lose their protruding parts, and the sharpness of the canines also noticeably decreases.

At the age of 6, the dog's teeth acquire a stable yellow tint.

Maturity and aging

At the age of 7, the cutting edge of the tooth retains a certain sharpness, the fangs become dull, and the hooks of the lower jaw take the shape of an egg, with a blunt edge turned to the lips, and a sharp one to the tongue.

At the age of 10 and later, most of the teeth are completely erased, becoming like short, blunt stumps. The incisors of the lower, and later the upper jaw, stagger and begin to fall out.

Depending on the lifestyle of the dog, the condition of her teeth is different. Of great importance is the food that he was fed throughout his life, heredity, bad habits and the health of the animal. So, frequent eating of bones, as well as wearing stones or sticks in the mouth, contribute to the early wear of the system.

Caries, poor nutrition and diseases of the internal organs also do not reflect well on the teeth. Given these factors, a small adjustment should be made when determining the age of the animal. Moreover, the older the dog, the greater the error can be made in the analysis.

In addition to the state of the dental system, along with the years lived, the dog has characteristic features of appearance that are absent at a young age:

  • Starting from 7-8 years old, the first gray hair appears on the muzzle, which subsequently spreads to the stomach and front paws.
  • The older the pet, the lower its physical activity. And although this criterion, in addition to lived years, depends on many factors, in general, young dogs are noticeably more cheerful and more mobile than older ones.
  • After 10 years, the muscle tone of older animals falls. This is especially noticeable in short-haired dogs with well-developed muscles.
  • At 11-12 years old, the cornea becomes cloudy, and the eyes themselves sink.
  • The weakness of the muscular corset leads to the fact that the back of the four-legged friend sags, and the stomach drops noticeably down.
  • Irreversible age-related changes in the shape of the joints lead to a characteristic change in the gait of an elderly dog. Stiffness appears in the movements of the hind limbs, the hind hock seems to straighten out, losing its former flexibility.

When determining the approximate age of an animal, one should consider a combination of several signs, without highlighting one of them. In general, the younger the dog, the more accurately you can determine how old it is. At the end of life, the appearance of a pet depends not so much on the biological age, but on the image and living conditions of the animal.

How to convert dog age to human.

  • Communicating with his smart pet, the owner of the dog may have a completely logical question regarding the level of development of a four-legged friend. How old is a pet, measured in human years? How to translate dog age into human age and how many years are left to enjoy communication with an aged pet?
  • Adjusting the age of a dog to the corresponding age of a person will not work, because the aging process of a dog differs from that of a human. But there are several systems for converting dog age into human age. From the material of the article you will learn how to determine the age of a dog using special methods: according to a simplified table, according to the table of correspondence between the age of a dog and a person's age (the calculation is made according to certain coefficients).

How to translate dog age into human, how many dogs have a year of life by human standards: calculation

1st option for calculating the age of a dog by human standards (simplified):

According to this method, 1 year of a dog's life is equal to 7 human years.

History reference:

  • In the middle of the 20th century, veterinarians equated dog age with human age, based on the following simple ratio: a person lives on average 70 years, and the life expectancy of a dog is 10 years, which means that one dog year was equal to 7 human years.

In this common ratio, some social features remain unaccounted for:

  • The first 20 years of a person's life are spent in full or partial dependence on their parents. During this period, a person learns the norms of morality and behavior in society, is trained in educational institutions, a new family is not created, and there is no need to talk about the birth of offspring at all - the breeding function becomes available much later.
  • In the belly world, everything is arranged differently. For a one-year-old pet, whose age in human terms corresponds to 15 years, such a lifestyle is a real luxury, because the performance of all work functions is quite affordable for him. The animal learns to get food, take care of itself, navigate in the world around it. A two-year-old pet has already formed a character, physically by this time it is considered fully mature.

Calculation of the dog's age in human terms according to LeBeau's theory:

  • It so happened that the authors of various theories for calculating the age of pets in accordance with human standards are not scientists, not zoologists, but veterinarians. The latter spend all their working time next to four-legged pets, without delving into data analysis, numbers, and the results of long-term studies.
  • The French veterinarian A. LeBeau is the author of the theory named after him, which takes into account the rapid rate of development of the level of social intelligence of a young dog in the first year of life. LeBeau drew conclusions on the basis of the characteristics of the growth and development of people and dogs. The period of puberty of a person and a pet, the period of maturity, as well as life expectancy were compared.
  • According to LeBeau's theory, the level of development of a one-year-old pet can be equated to a human age corresponding to 15 years; at two years, the development of a pet can be correlated with a 24-year-old human age. One year of a dog's life during this period is 9 human years, after the first two years of life, 4 human years are “added” to the age of the pet.


French veterinarian A. LeBeau is the author of a theory that takes into account the rapid pace of puppy development in the first year of life

What did LeBeau not take into account in his theory?

The French veterinarian, taking into account the calculation of age, did not take into account the influence of the size of the four-legged wards on the features of their level of development.

Klayberg's law

  • In accordance with the second theory, the age of a four-legged pet is calculated in accordance with the metabolic law of "three quarters" of Klayberg. The law also failed.
  • The reason is as follows: the basal metabolic rate is dependent on body weight.
  • There is a pattern here: the larger the animal, the longer its life expectancy. But with dogs, Klayberg's law does not “work”, and the dependence of weight on the number of years lived is reversed: dogs of small breeds live longer under normal conditions.
  • However, there are some truthful points in Klaiberg's law: with warm-blooded animals, the pattern of correspondence between growth and metabolic rate is not in doubt.
  • For example, if we compare the life span of a mouse and an elephant. According to this scale, the dog occupies the average place allotted by law. The age of a four-legged pet will not always be equally correlated with a human one, because not only weight, but also the breed of the pet influences.


According to Klayberg's law, the larger the animal, the longer its lifespan.

The age of a 78-year-old person corresponds to:

  • 10 years of age of the dog, if it is a giant breed
  • 12 years of age if large breed pet
  • 14 years of age if the pet is of medium breed
  • 15-16 years of age, if the pet is a small breed

Based on the above, it can be concluded that the overall relationship of the phenomenon within species (eg, mice, horses, humans) is inversely related. If we talk about dogs, then the dependence is expressed most clearly.

What Klayberg did not take into account:

  • The lifespan of an animal is also related to the heart rate. This is a general rule for representatives of the Animal Kingdom. 1 billion contractions is the lifespan of an animal. Small dog breeds live longer and have higher heart rates.
  • According to Klayberg's law, the life expectancy of an 80-pound mastiff should exceed the life expectancy of a 2-pound chihuahua by 2.5 times. However, in fact, everything is different: a dog of such a large breed lives 1.5 times less.
  • This can be explained as follows: the insulin-like growth factor IGF-1 is secreted into the body throughout life, which cannot be said about growth hormone. In dogs of small breeds, the concentration of IGF-1 is higher. As a result, programmed cell death slows down and the dog's body is not exposed to age-related diseases, which means that aging slows down.


The lifespan of an animal is also related to the heart rate. This is a general rule for representatives of the Animal Kingdom

The modern system for translating human life into dog life:

Modern gerontologists in their conclusions are based on the fact that age-related changes in a dog are associated with its size. Therefore, you should not equate the eight-year-old age of the dachshund with the same age of the Mastiff. Yes, not a very logical approach, because age-related changes are the same for people, regardless of height and constitution. But an objective assessment of dog age is possible provided that the breeds are divided into several weight categories.


An objective assessment of dog age is possible provided that the breeds are divided into several weight categories

  • The first group includes dogs of small breeds, whose weight does not exceed 10 kg (Chihuahua, Toy Terrier, Miniature Poodle, Shih Tzu, Japanese Chin)
  • The second group includes dogs of medium breeds, whose weight reaches 10-25 kg (setters, bulldogs)
  • The third group includes dogs of large breeds, weighing from 25 to 45 kg (Afghan Hound, Labrador)
  • The last group includes giant dogs weighing more than 45 kg (mastiff, great dane)

The first few years of life (3-4 years), the development of dogs, regardless of breed and size, is the same. During this period, three years of a dog's life correspond to a human's 28 years.

After that, for the giant dog, the next stage begins - aging. The body ages without slowing down. If the dog is medium in size, then its body ages more slowly, and in very small dogs, the rate of aging is as slow as possible.



After the pet is 3 years old, you can add to its age with each subsequent year 4 years by human standards

What are the rates of aging in small breeds? After the pet is 3 years old, you can add 4 years to its age in human terms with each subsequent year.

For a medium breed dog, 4.5 years are added to the recalculation, for a large breed dog - an increase to the age of 5 years.

How to determine the age of a dog by human standards: a table of the age of a dog and a person

According to the table, you can independently determine the age of the dog in terms of a human, using the coefficient:



Video: How to find out the age of a dog. Actual age according to dog physiology

How many years do dogs live and should they live?

The life expectancy of a dog, as mentioned above, is influenced by many factors. Among them are the height of the pet, and its weight, and the state of health. However, the existing injustice is as follows: the age of our cute four-legged pets, the most devoted and beloved, is short compared to the lifespan of other pets. If we talk about parrots, then some species in good conditions live up to 70 years, turtles, provided they are properly maintained, live for 50 and 200 years.

How to determine the biological age of a dog?

The first two years of life fall on the main stages of dog development. At six months, the development of a puppy can be compared with the age of a five-year-old child. In terms of human standards, the most difficult period of transitional age is the first year of a dog's life.

At the age of two, the development of a dog by human standards corresponds to the age of 24, and at the age of 3 or 5 years, the pet is already considered fully formed. This age is considered a period of canine maturity, and at the age of 9, the pet is already considered old. A 15-year-old dog is a real long-liver.

Video: Dog age

Long-livers dogs: records, breeds

Long-lived dog breeds:

  • Yorkshire Terriers live up to 14-16 years.
  • Poodles live up to 12-15 years.
  • The Maltese Bichon can live up to 12-14 years.
  • The Miniature Schnauzer lives up to 14 years.
  • Longevity Dogs: Boston Terrier

    One of the longest-lived record holders is the dog Blue (the owner is Lev Ball). The dog has spent its entire life in the Australian city of Rochester helping shepherds. The dog lived to be 28 years and 11 months old.

    Video: The oldest dog in the world. Long-lived dog lived 29 years 5 months

The age of the puppy and his teeth, changes in the dentition, age signs of adult teeth are further in this article.

Age-related changes in the dentition - table

Age Changes
At birthMissing teeth
2-4 monthsMilk incisors cut through
3-6 monthsThe change of premolars begins
4-5 monthsFangs are changing
4-7 monthsMolars erupt
1 yearAll teeth are even, with tubercles, clearly differentiated, white
2 yearsThe tubercles on the lower incisors begin to wear off, the process is repeated on the upper ones.
3 yearsErased more middle incisors
3-4 yearsextreme
5.5 yearsThe main tubercles are only on the extreme teeth
5-7 yearsDentitions turn yellow and fangs begin to grow dull
10 yearsTeeth yellow, tartar developed, incisors oval
10-12 years oldAll incisors are erased, fall out
16 yearsDropped incisors

Distinctive features of pets of large breeds

Puppies of large breeds have large mouths and it is quite easy to control both teething and shifting in them. You can navigate and check the table above. All phases are approximately the same in terms of timing, most often without any problems. With good nutrition and maintenance, there are no questions. You should carefully monitor the process and prepare large mosses, artificial bones, special toys, etc. for the puppy.

Differences in medium dogs

This category, like large breeds, does not particularly suffer from pathologies. The dates match the table. Determination of age is not difficult. The only thing is that the smallest representatives of the group may have different terms and the risk of pathologies increases. The process can be delayed, like small dogs.

Milk teeth in such dogs erupt by a month, begin to change from 4 and end - by 6-7 months. But the predisposition to various pathologies significantly affects both the timing and the structure of the dental arches as a whole. There are a number of pathologies - retention, dystopia, undershot bite, undershot bite, pincer bite, lack of set, overset. All this is extremely negatively reflected in the timing of the development of the puppy's teeth.

How to find out the age of an adult dog by teeth?

To do this, the owner should conduct an examination of the grin as a whole and each individual tooth according to the scheme, in particular. Compare the data with the norm and draw conclusions based on the difference in the indications of the state of the dental arches. Here's how to tell your dog's age by their teeth.

dental formula

A healthy adult dog should have 42 teeth. Of these, 12 will be represented by incisors, 6 in each jaw. The upper ones should cover the lower ones in the form of scissors. The exception is dogs of the German boxer type. Then come the fangs - 2 on each jaw. Moreover, the upper fangs should go beyond the lower ones and be bent slightly back. This will come in handy for the dog when biting and holding. Then come the premolars (premolars) - 16 pcs. (8 on each jaw). There are only 10 molars (molars) (4 on the upper jaw and 6 on the lower).

How does tooth wear progress over time?

At 1 year old, all teeth are even, with tubercles and white. At 2 years old, the tubercles on the lower incisors begin to wear off. Moreover, by the age of 3, the middle ones are erased, and by the age of 3-4 - the extreme ones. Also, from 2 to 4 years, the lower incisors suffer. All incisors were erased at 10-12 years old. If the main tubercles are only on the extreme upper incisors, then the age is 5.5 years. Oval incisors - 10 years, fall out - 10-12 years, fell out - this is old age (16 years). By the age of 5-7, the dentition turns yellow and the fangs begin to grow dull, by the age of 10 they are covered with tartar and become yellow. The teeth of the lower jaw fall out first.