Last Updated on September 20, 2023
1 in dog years roughly equals 15 in human years.
This calculation was made for a medium-sized dog (21 to 50 pounds) using the recommendations from the AKC (American Kennel Club).
There are 2 ways of calculating the conversion from human years to dog years. The above result was calculated using the more correct way, we’ll explain what makes the other way incorrect later in this article.
The table below shows dog years and their equivalent to human years, with different columns for different sizes.
| Dog's Age in Years | Human Years (Small Dog) | Human Years (Medium Dog) | Human Years (Large Dog) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| 2 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| 3 | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| 4 | 32 | 32 | 32 |
| 5 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| 6 | 40 | 42 | 45 |
| 7 | 44 | 47 | 50 |
| 8 | 48 | 51 | 55 |
| 9 | 52 | 56 | 61 |
| 10 | 56 | 60 | 66 |
| 11 | 60 | 65 | 72 |
| 12 | 64 | 69 | 77 |
| 13 | 68 | 74 | 82 |
| 14 | 72 | 78 | 88 |
| 15 | 76 | 83 | 93 |
| 16 | 80 | 87 | 99 |
Calculating how many human years is 1 in dog years
As mentioned above, there are 2 main ways of calculating dog years to human years and vice versa. There’s a correct way and an incorrect way.
The old way
Most people still assume that 1 dog year equals 7 dog years. This belief was probably first introduced in the 1950s. However, this isn’t the best way to measure it.
Although there’s been quite a bit of research since then disproving the 7:1 ratio, people are still holding on the idea. The formula could have been based on the assumption that dogs live to 10-ish years and humans reach 70 years old, but honestly, we’re not quite sure when it started.
So while the 7-1 rule is easy to calculate and remember, it’s unfortunately incorrect.
The correct way
The best method of converting human years to dog years is a bit more difficult.
The American Veterinary Medical Association has the following to say about it::
- The beginning year of a medium-sized dog’s lifespan equals around 15 human years.
- The second year in a dog’s lifespan is roughly 9 years for humans.
- From that point forward each year of a human equals either four or five dogs years.
Keep in mind that smaller dogs tend to live longer than bigger dogs. Scientists concluded that every 4.4 pounds of body mass reduced a dog’s life expectancy by about a month.
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