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New way to calculate your dog's age in human years – and no you don’t multiply it by seven

So interesting! - by Riah Matthews
  • 19 Nov 2019
New way to calculate your dog's age in human years – and no you don’t multiply it by seven

A new way to calculate your dog's age in human years has been developed by university researchers - and it doesn't involving adding seven years to their age.

Led by Tina Wang at the University of California, geneticists have released a formula to work out your dog's age in equivalent human years based on DNA changes over time. 

In particular they looked at something known as 'methyl groups', which are molecules that add themselves to DNA at a consistent rate. They can be looked at to calculate the age in both humans and dogs, something known as the epigenetic clock.

'Mammals progress through similar physiological stages during life, from early development to puberty, aging, and death,' says the study.

The typical lifespan for dogs can vary from six to seven years for large breeds, up to 18 years for smaller breeds. Despite this, most dogs show similar developmental and psychological trajectories. 

Using Labrador retriever dogs for the study, geneticists found that 

So instead of adding seven years, the new formula involves finding the natural logarithm of a dog's age, multiplying it by 16 and then adding 31 to the total. 

Your dog's logarithm can be calculated here, or you can use the ln button on your calculator to work this out.

As an example, if your dog's age is four then its logarithm number will be 1.3, so you would then multiply 1.3 by 16 and add 31 to reach 51.8 which is the dog's age in human years.

The full research can be viewed here.

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Riah Matthews
Riah Matthews
Riah Matthews is the Deputy Editor for that’s life! She started her journalism career in the UK at the Nottingham Post before moving to Australia and working on that's life! and the podcast How I Survived. Her work has also been published in the Daily Mail, Chat, Woman, Pick Me Up, Take a Break, Real People and on Newidea.com.au

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