My fiancee adopted our dog about four years ago, and the vet then said she was probably about 2. Doing some cyphering, that would make her about six right now. However, she looks and acts a lot older than that to me (grey hair on he muzzle, slowing down considerably lately, etc.)
My dog, not being so good with dates, has been no help.
So I’m compiling a list of ways we can figure out how old she really is. This is what I have so far.
Ask her if she remembers Clinton being president.
Ask her how many dog years til she can retire.
Cut her open and count the rings.
Ask her what she did to prepare for Y2K.
Ask her if she saw the first Matrix in the theater.
Ask her if she remembers watching Mark McGuire break the HR record.
Do all breeds age at the same rate? I’ve heard large dogs age more quickly than smaller dogs.
The “count the rings” idea made me remember something I read on a bookmark. “Outside of a dog, a book is your best friend. Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
Oops, and here I come just a bit late to tell you to saw the dog in half and count the rings. Oh well. No points for original thinking.
Tell you what, though, I am not sure that dogs and dates are all that good together: it might be bad for the digestion.
Also, I think it was a bit forward of your fiancée to become engaged to you when she was only two. :eek:
Oh, well, did you expect sense? I concur about larger dogs ageing more quickly than little ones, but cannot offer any cite better than anecdote.
Big dogs do age faster than small dogs. You can figure a very large dog has a life expectancy of about twelve years; a very small dog may easily go to 16 or 18.
At a rough guess, you could correlate your dog’s signs of aging to human years, then extrapolate based on her size. If she’s a lab, say, and acts like she’s a healthy 60-year-old human, then maybe she’s, oh, seven? If she’s a small dog like a terrier, I’d guess maybe ten. Adjust the estimate up if she’s smaller, down if she’s bigger or unhealthy. (A dog that’s significantly overweight may slow down at a younger age than a healthy one.)
Completely a guessing game, of course. A magic eight ball or weegie board might prove just as useful.
It would be helpful to know if it’s a large or small breed.
Wear of teeth and tartar might be helpful but if the dog eats all soft food or is fond of chewing on rocks that won’t be as useful. Another thing to look at is the eyes. Geriatric dogs (older than 8) tend to get lenticular sclerosis, hardening of the lens (not the same as cataracts) and when you look at their eyes they will look sort of opaque inside. It’s kind of hard ot describe but it is hard to tell age between say 2 and 6, so if it was a couple years ago that she was age-guessed by a vet you could have them take another look at her and see if she looks older to them now.
Pretty dog. And what a sad expression - I bet that face is perfect for getting treats, walks, and all nice things. I’d say she looks older than six to me, what with the greying muzzle and a certain sort of “filled-out-ness” but I have no dog now, so I suppose you must get your vet to guess.
That is IF you can find the dog in order to take her to the vet - as Diosa said, she’s quite a camouflaged dog on that floor.
Or you could pretend it is like open of those old-fashioned competition games at a village fete - guessing the weight of the cake or whatever. You invite all your friends round to have a go at guessing the age of the dog, hell, even sell tickets and offer a prize. It won’t do you all that much good, but I imagine the dog will be thrilled and bemused by all this extra attention.
(I want a dog!. Not practical to have one, though. Sulk.)
Your dog is 9. This follows from simple arithmetic. Let a=1, b=2, and so on and so forth. Adding up with alternate signs (dog is an alternate to god) we arrive at the desired figure. We can thus conclude that your friend
[ol]
[li] does not know how to count,[/li][li] thinks that two is the same as three, or[/li][li] is part of a scismatic sect of Nestorians and is trying to reconcile the dual nature of the Christ with the tripartite nature of the Trinity and your dog (god, ZOMG!) is symbolic of this struggle. Also notice that you have had her for six years, and on the sixth day God (dog, ZOMG!) created man and the difference between the actual age of the dog (god, ZOMG!) and the purported age at aquisition is 7 years. I trust that I don’t need to tell you that 7 is a very interesting number, being both prime (from the Latin primus, meaning first. Because 7 is the number of days elapsed before the first real day–i.e. after creation) and composite (being both the sum of 3 and 4 and the difference between 4 squared and 3 squared) and thus blessed above all other numbers.[/li][/ol]
YOur doggie is adorable and looks to have some boxer in her. Boxers usually act puppyish until the very end. Very playful and happy creatures.
I think the only accurate test for this dog is to put her on the front lawn and then have some kids walk back and forth on the grass. If your dog starts barking, she is saying, " You damn kids! Get off my lawn!" = she’s old.
Of course, it could be translated too: You kids! Over here! I wants to play!
I concur about larger dogs ageing more quickly than little ones, but cannot offer any cite better than anecdote.
