Since ancient times, dogs have been faithful friends, unchanging companions of man. They, like no one else, are attached to their masters, understand them with one word and feel any changes in the mood of people. Even a few minutes of talking with a dog give a person indescribable emotions.
Of course, furry four-legged pets give their owners a lot of worries. But for loving owners, they are absolutely not a burden. On the contrary, they make you feel necessary and important in the life of a dog.
Thousand and One Question
Even experienced dog breeders with many years of experience regularly have questions related to their pets. What can we say about newcomers? In the first months of living with a dog, they appear several times a day.
Absolutely all owners are concerned about issues related to growing up and puberty of a pet.
It is important for those who have just bought a puppy to know how old dogs grow when a conscious, adult period in their life begins. Fluffy babies, of course, are cute, but also worries with them to the neck. Just like with young children, I want to quickly skip the "pot-swaddling" period and fully surrender to the joy of communicating with a friend.
Owners of older dogs are more interested in when puberty occurs, at what time it is best to organize the first mating, and at what age to sterilize the dog. These are all very important points that have a decisive influence on the competent planning of the animal’s life and, accordingly, its health.
There are many questions, and the longer the dog and its owner live together, the more they appear. But perhaps the most frequently asked of them is how to find out the age of a dog by human standards.
Year in seven
Unfortunately, our beloved pet friends live much less than we do. It was always believed that in order to convert a dog’s age to human, you need to multiply it by 7, that is, one year of a dog’s life is equal to seven years of a person’s life. However, this is not quite true. After all, a one-year-old dog can become a parent, but a seven-year-old child cannot. Also, an 11-year-old dog is much more active than a 77-year-old man.
Therefore, a new method of calculus was established. Now the question of how to calculate the age of the dog is answered as follows:
the one-year-old dog corresponds to a fifteen-year-old teenager;
in two years, the dog corresponds to a 24-year-old person;
after two years, every year of a dog's life is equal to four human.
Now you can easily calculate how much the pet is older than its owners.
How to find out the age of the dog
If the puppy is bought at a kennel or from private breeders, the exact date of his birth is known. It is indicated in the accompanying documents or the previous owner informs her new in a conversation. But it happens that a loyal and kind dog was found on the street, and then the owner just needs to figure out how to find out the age of the dog.
It can be determined by the state of the coat, eyes, or muscle tone of the animal. But the most accurate method of determination is according to the condition of the teeth. In dogs, they change only once in a lifetime, so the degree of their deterioration will clearly indicate the number of years an animal has lived.
Puppy teeth
Dogs are born without teeth. On the 20th day of life, the first of them begin to erupt: fangs and hooks. By the age of one and a half months, the puppy should have a complete set of milk teeth.
At the age of 3-6 months, they are gradually replaced by permanent ones. The incisors fall first, then (in 3-5 months) premolars, middle incisors and margins. At the age of six months, the time for fangs comes. This tooth change scheme is the best answer to the question of how to find out the age of a dog that has milk teeth.
The one-year-old dog already has a complete set of teeth. They are snow-white, with characteristic tubercles.
The change process can occur with small deviations from the generally accepted schedule, but in general, how old the dogs grow, teeth change to this.
Two years and older
Further, the age of the animal is determined by the degree of abrasion of the tubercles:
at 2 years, tubercles on hooks on the lower jaw are erased;
at 4 years, the enamel becomes dull, the tubercles of the upper hooks disappear;
enamel turns yellow in five-year-old dogs, the tubercles of all incisors disappear, the fangs become dull;
at 6 years old, the incisors become concave;
at 8-10 years old, the teeth become completely yellow, the crowns wear out, and the fangs are already short and blunt;
after ten years, the teeth begin to stagger and fall out.
Why know age
Each owner takes care of the health of his pet and its longevity. For this, it is very important to know the age of the dog. This is primarily due to the need for regular vaccination.
Also, the correct determination of age will help to sterilize the pet in a timely manner. Veterinarians strongly recommend this procedure for all bitches older than seven years. So you can reduce the risk of age-related tumors. And it doesn’t matter if the dog gave birth or not.
With regard to early sterilization, the opinion of doctors on this subject is very negative. Before five months, it is not recommended to carry it out.
Dogs undergo a castration procedure. The age of the event is chosen at the request of the owner. The main thing is that at this moment the dog is absolutely healthy. The best time is the ripening period, after seven years it is undesirable to do it.
The dog's lifespan depends on its size and breed. On average, it is 10-12 years. Unbeknownst to their owners, their pets become older than them, begin to hurt and lose their former activity. Therefore, each dog breeder carefully takes care of the health of his pet, seeks to extend the precious years of his life in order to stay together for as long as possible.