Dog Age in Human Years Calculator

The dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a predator of the canid family (Canidae), and a domesticated subspecies of the wolf. Its scientific name was published in 1758 as Canis familiaris by Carl Linnaeus. The dog is found on all continents, usually in the company of humans. The dog has been used by people for thousands of years, for example when hunting, as a herding dog, draft animal, police dog or service dog, but more often as a companion animal.

According to genetic research by Vilà et al. (1997), differences in mitochondrial DNA distinguish four different groups of dog breeds, which may be the result of four different domestications.

It is clear that the dog is descended from the wolf (Canis lupus) and not from the coyote (Canis latrans), the Common Jackal (Canis aureus) or another canine: the differences between dog and wolf with all these species are much greater than the one between dog and wolf.

Group one of the four categories distinguished by Vila is again divided into several branches, of which a southeastern branch includes the Australian dingo (Canis lupus dingo), a primitive dog that also lives in the wild and differs from most domestic dogs. distinguished by an annual reproductive cycle.

Research, the results of which were published in 2010, make it plausible that the domestication of dogs already took place in the Far East about 14,000 to 15,000 years ago. More speculative finds are 31,000 to 36,000 years old. In the early 21st century, a skull found in the 1860s in the Belgian caves of Goyet (Gesves) has been identified as that of a Paleolithic dog. This would make the approximately 31,700-year-old fossil the oldest domesticated animal yet found: the dog would have been domesticated earlier than any other animal. A 2015 study rejected morphological arguments that the Belgian find was a dog, but the original team in turn published a rebuttal. Older estimates suggested the beginning of domestication around 40,000-100,000 years ago.

Wall paintings in ancient Egypt show that people already made extensive use of animals at that time, for example for hunting. In addition to dogs, animal species that we no longer know as domesticated animals, such as hyenas, were also kept by the Egyptians. Gods, such as Anubis, were (in part) given the appearance of animals and people were aware of the specific properties of animals.

It used to be believed that dogs could only see shades of gray or 'black and white'. However, further research has shown that dogs can indeed see colors, but differently from humans. The dog's eye, like all mammals, contains two types of receptors. The rods are responsible for the perception of shades of gray, the cones for seeing colors. There are more rods in the eye than cones, and rods need less light to send a signal to the brain. The cones provide color vision if there is enough light available.

The sense of smell in dogs is much better developed than in humans. This is primarily due to the increased number of olfactory cells. In general, the longer the snout, the better the sense of smell. There are therefore considerable differences between the different dog breeds in this regard. Humans have about 10 cm² olfactory epithelium, while dogs have an average of 100 cm², but this varies between 30 cm² in a French bulldog and 169 cm² in a German Shepherd. The bloodhound is famous for its ability to follow tracks.

Hearing is highly developed in dogs. They can perceive higher frequencies than humans. The range is at optimal hearing:

• Human ~ 20 - 20,000 Hz, maximum sensitivity between 1000 and 4000 Hz.
• Dog ~ 15 - 50,000 Hz (some sources even say 100,000 Hz), maximum sensitivity around 8000 Hz.

Dogs are also able to hear frequencies around 1 to 2 Hz over a distance of 25 meters. The dog's movable auricles allow him to locate a sound three-dimensionally, they can therefore do that much better than man. A dog can determine the direction from which a sound comes with a deviation of 2% (more than 15% in humans). No less than 17 muscles are involved in the movement of the dog's ears.

A dog can live up to 15 years with proper care. Purebred dogs often live a little less on average than mongrels. Very large breeds also live a little shorter on average.

If your dog was a human, how old would he/she be? Ever wonder how old your dog is in human years? Use above tool to calculate your dog's "human" age. We have created an easy-to-understand chart that shows dog age by converting it to a human age.