Checking dogs teeth for age?

Question

How accurate is this method? My vet said my dog was 6 months old when i found her. That was nearly 8 years ago and from my memory her teeth has not change one bit from the day i found her. She was only 21 lbs when i found her and now shes about 47lbs. Shes half dalmation and half pitt bull. Can u tell a dog by its breed and weight also?

Answer 1

dogs' teeth grow in as they get older (just like childrens' teeth), and they can also tell by the amount of wear and tear on the teeth (older dogs' teeth are more worn down). breed doesn't really tell the dogs' age because a dog's breed stays constant its whole life. weight, however, changes (gets bigger as dog gets older), so weight can be a way to tell how old a dog is, but that's not always accurate (because an older dog that's emaciated may weigh just as much as a young puppy). also, the size (in terms of height and body mass) of the dog is a factor in age because a dog that's younger is obviously smaller than a dog that's older.

Answer 2

Here's a very general, but simple, way to get an idea of a young dog's age. Remember 4-6-8. With baby teeth, middle incisors come in at *about* 4 weeks. Outer incisors at 6 wks, canines at 8 wks. Adult teeth come in at 4, 6 & 8 months, in the same order. Again, this is a VERY GENERAL RULE OF THUMB. Lots of factors affect the true timing, though most of the time the order is the same. You can be pretty certain that, unless the dog has been nutritionally deprived, the adult canines will be in by 6-8 months.

Older than that, as others have said, a general idea can be based on plaque buildup (and consequently, color) and wearing down. Dogs that have been well cared for and fed good diets will "appear" younger according to their teeth than a dog that's had a rough life.

Answer 3

It could be possible that they guesstimated 6 mos, bc she may have had all of her adult teeth in and a few puppy teeth still left. Dogs usually lose all of their puppy teeth by the time they are 6 mos old. After that it is a guesstimate based on ware/tear of teeth and tartar build up. If they appear to be over a yr old vets usually will give you an age range (ex. 2-3yrs) If she is 8, I'm sure there is some tartar build up on those back molars. Unless they have been cleaned by your vet, all dogs tend to have tartar build up, it just depends on the size of the dog and what they eat. Some dogs start having tartar build up as early as 1 yr.

Answer 4

Ok, if the vet thought your dog was 6 months when he looked, that means her adult teeth had just come in. You can tell that because the teeth will be extremely clean and not worn down at all. As the dog ages, the teeth will become dirtier (which isn't always an indication of age, some dogs teeth are just naturally dirty) and they will become worn. The more worn they are, the older they are. It becomes extremely apparent in older dogs, because their canine teeth will be shorter than they used to be and their front teeth are almost worn to nothing.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Simply add this to everything said so far

In addition to the teeth (color, sharpness, shape), gums, roof of mouth & texture of the skin (like the dogs lips) are all telling signs