HOW OLD IS YOUR DOG REALLY IN ‘HUMAN YEARS’? _ We keep learning that the old “one dog year equals seven human years” rule just doesn’t hold up. Recent research and updated vet guidance now paint a more nuanced picture of how dogs age.
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A study out of the University of Nottingham a few years ago suggested that a dog hits its teenage phase at around six months old, is a fully fledged adult by about two years of age, and is considered “senior” right around seven. Newer work with large sets of veterinary records has backed up the idea that most dogs aren’t viewed as “old” by vets until after about age seven, with many dogs not reaching clear “old age” until their early teens, depending on breed. Smaller breeds tend to stay “younger” longer, while large and giant breeds reach old age sooner.
… A while back I told you about University of California researchers who came up with a more scientific way to translate dog years into human years using epigenetics — the way our DNA is chemically marked over time. They looked at DNA “methylation marks” and showed that dogs’ DNA ages very quickly early in life and then slows down, which means the 1:7 rule doesn’t work at all. Their math suggests roughly:
… A 1‑year‑old dog is similar to a 30‑year‑old human.
… A 4‑year‑old dog is more like a 52‑year‑old human.
… After about age 7, dog aging slows relative to humans.
MARRIAGE HACKS _ What the internet said…
• It’s not you vs. me. It’s us vs. the problem.
• Focus on what they bring to the relationship, not what they don’t.
• In most relationships each person overestimates the percentage of the work they are doing.
• Celebrate your partner at every opportunity. If they reciprocate you know you married well and everything else becomes much easier.
• Volunteer together.
• Don’t ask is there anything to do — find the stuff to do and do it.
KNOWING HOW MUCH EXERCISE YOU’LL NEED MAKES YOU EAT DIFFERENTLY _ You want a classic blueberry muffin from Starbucks, but you’re trying to watch your waste, right? What would dissuade you more — knowing that your eating 475 calories, or knowing to burn it off you’d have to do two hours of housework? If the housework scared you, you’re not alone. A study found most people choose fewer calories when shown the exercise needed to burn it off. For example:
- A Big Mac – 490 calories or mowing the lawn for 75 minutes
- Candy bar – 260 calories or two and a half hours of watering the garden
- Slice of Pizza Hut double pepperoni – 276 calories or coaching a football team for an hour
