Customize calculations for breed life expectancy
The official formula is fine for a lot of dogs. If you have an especially large or small dog, though, or want some added personalization, you can adjust the dog-year calculations for your breed's average life expectancy.
Customize the birthday formula
The veterinarian method (default) is my favorite, because it works well for dogs that are young, medium, and older. The scientific formula uses a complex equation and is fun if you want to be fancy. The "age times 7" rule is the simplest and easiest to remember.
What's the difference?
Each formula for calculating dog-years tries to match up your dog's life stage with how old they would be as a human. Feel free to choose a formula that seems right to you based on your dog.
Here's how they compare over the course of a dog's life, using our dog Tanner as an example:
When you compare the official formulas, all three are pretty close when Tanner is 10 calendar years old. The dots are vertically close, all estimating that Tanner is 65-70 dog years. If Tanner was a lot older or younger, though, the different formulas would give very different answers. In particular, the scientific formula gives a much higher age than the others for younger dogs, and a much lower age for older dogs. With the scientific formula, dog aging slows down so much that even an 18 year old dog has not aged more than about a 75-80 year old human.
If you customize the calculations for your breed, then whichever formula you pick will adjust. At that breed's average life span, your dog's age will equal the average human life span for that country, too. For instance, Tanner is a "general/unknown mix," so on average a dog like him will live a bit over 13 calendar years. At that point in time, each formula will say he's 79 dog years old, to match up with how long people live on average in the US.
Upcoming birthdays
Get ready to party! Here are your dog's upcoming birthdays. They're aging xx quickly dog-years per calendar year.
Today your dog is xx years, xx months, xx weeks, and xx day old in human years.
In dog-years your pup is currently xx dog-years.
