How did they figure that there are seven dog years to one human year?

Answer 1

they divided human life expectancy by dog life expectancy. However that term has been around a long time, and i would imagine that human life expectancy has gone up at least a few years since that equation was put into use. I am sure dogs live a little longer to, but science has helped people alot more.

Answer 2

The old rule of thumb that dogs age seven times as fast as humans comes from dividing the average human life span by the average canine life span. But it's not very accurate.

As Snopes points out, most dogs reach adulthood in roughly 18 months, which would be the equivalent of a 10-year-old child. Also, while a 15-year-old dog would be considered the equivalent of a 105-year-old person, many more dogs live to be 15 than humans live to be 105.

The handy Online Conversion site suggests that a more accurate formula would be: 10 and 1/2 dog years for the first two years, then four dog years per year. Maxie Beagle offers a scaled chart that distinguishes between small and large dogs (smaller breeds tend to live longer).

DogAge measures your dog's biological age in human years according to factors such as breed, weight, lifestyle, and behavior. You'll find another handy lifespan chart at (where else?) DogYears.com.

Answer 3

They compared average dog life spans to average human life spans (it probably looked something like 10 years to 70 years) and concluded that dogs bodies decay 7 times faster than that of a human.

This might be generally acurate but the stages of life that dogs go to never really respond to their what their age would be after a dog year conversion (dogs aren't really in their teens after 2 years)

Answer 4

Take the average lifespan of a human divided by the average life span of a dog. Equals about 7.

Answer 5

The average longevity of a dog is divided into the average longevity of humans.