Relative Age

One of my favorite classes in college was Educational Psychology.  In particular, the parts that talked about what kinds of thought processes developed at different ages.

Then you apply that to dogs.  But, dogs develop differently than humans.  In general, the 7 years of human development for every year of a dog's life works.  When you look at things from a "big picture" standpoint.  In a dog's life, however, it's more compressed, and some years are more meaningful than others.

Here is a chart that begins to explain what I mean:

Canine Age	Human Age
2 Months	14 Months
6 Months	5 Years
8 Months	9 Years
1 Year	15 Years
2 Years	24 Years
3 Years	28 Years
4 Years	32 Years
5 Years	37 Years
6 Years	42 Years
7 Years	47 Years
8 Years	52 Years
9 Years	57 Years
10 Years	62 Years
11 Years	67 Years
12 Years	72 Years
13 Years	77 Years
14 Years	82 Years

So, according to this chart, Echo was, in human terms, older than 14 months old, when she came to live with me, but, is not, yet, the human equivalent of 5 years old, yet. ... AND, Gimli, in human terms, is pushing 50 years old. ... and there is some question on why they don't get along all the time?

Let's get more exact about things:

dog years

(The widget above is a fully functional calculator calculator that you can use from this blog. It's not a picture, and it won't re-direct you to another site.)

When I tried this calculator with Echo's age, at the time she came to my house, it said she was the equivalent of 2.6 human years old.  It says, as of November 14th, she is the human equivalent of 4.4 years old.

This same calculator said of Gimli, as of October 30th, that he was the human equivalent of 42.3 years old.

Keep in mind that, as the creator of this calculator acknowledges, that different breeds, and dogs of different sizes/muscular structure age at different rates.

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And different experts say different things.

For instance, according to the chart, if I was a dog, I would be closing in on my 7th birthday.  On the other hand, when I used the calculator, it said, if I was a dog, I would be 8.3 years old.

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But the overall relationship remains the same. ... In terms of my dogs.

Gimli is roughly "middle aged".  

Echo, on the other hand, is pre-school/kindergarten/1st Grade age.

That is a PRETTY BIG difference, especially when the preschool kid is a foot taller than the adult, and has 50% more body weight!

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Then again, one of my favorite sayings is that "'Age and Treachery' will beat 'Youth and Ability' ANY day."

Gimli proves that on a regular basis.

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Have fun with the chart, and the calculator!