The Mythology of Dog Years

While the “seven-year rule” is nothing more than mythology, dog owners (and media outlets) continue to use it for its simplicity -- it’s convenient, after all, to have a “one size fits all” method of understanding our pets’ equivalent stages of life. In reality, contextualizing a dog’s age is a bit more complex.

The origins of the “seven year myth” are shrouded in mystery. An Judgment Day calculation inscribed at Westminster Abbey in 1268 declared a ratio of 9 to 1 -- that is, humans live to age 81, and dogs to age 9. Georges Buffon, an 18th-century French naturalist, had more or less the same theory: Humans live to 90 or 100 years, and dogs to 10 or 12.

Source: The Mythology of Dog Years

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