Ever heard the phrase
"seniors at seven"? It turns out that that came from a study of border collies. There isn't a consistent model to show how dogs age from different breeds.
A graphic to aid in placing your dog on an aging spectrum.
A recent study identified 6 main categories to capture age-related trajectories for the majority of dog breeds.
The 6 categories look like this:
1. Puppy - 0-5 months
2. Juvenile - 6-12 months
3. Young Adult - 13-24 months
4. Mature Adult - 2-6 years
5. Senior - 7-11 years
- 7-9 years = early senior
- 10-11 years = late senior
6. Geriatric - 12-18+ years
- 12-14 years = geriatric
- 15-18+ years = very aged
There's still hope though! There was a U.S. study that discussed a "higher median longevity of 15.4 years" which might indicate that dogs are living longer now just like humans.
Dogs over age 12 tend to see more frequent cognitive impairments compared to dogs in their earlier years. This includes loss of housetraining, random wandering the house, whining, barking, and sleep disruption. Talk to your veterinarian if you start to see such changes in your older dog.
