Dog has his day.

So baby dog Izzy is turning two -- or is he? Maybe he's fourteen? Or maybe twenty-four? 

For many years people have used the 1:7 ratio for dog years, assuming for instance that when the dog turns three he is the equivalent of a twenty-one-year-old human. As it turns out, that's not a bad rule of thumb, but it depends on the dog. 

I have long suggested that, thanks to humans, there is more variety among the canines than any other species. Take two perfectly healthy dogs -- a chihuahua, for example, and a Leonberger -- and you're looking at adult weights of 4.5 pounds and 170 pounds. One is almost 38 times the size of the other, and yet you could probably make a crossbreed between them -- presumably in a laboratory -- because they are the same species. Does any other mammal species have as much variety as C. familiaris?

We know that the bigger the dog, the shorter the lifespan tends to be. It's brutal for those of us who love the big galoots, and it's something prospective owners of said galoots are warned about going in. I was interested to get this chart via email from a local animal hospital, which gives a better estimate of a dog's age dependent upon its size.

 

Izzy's a large dog, so by this reckoning he is turning twenty-four. It makes sense; on a recent visit the vet said that he was fully grown now, and any further weight he gains will probably be fat (as she gave me the side eye). But no, he still can't drive the car. Get a job, Izzy!

What makes this sad, though, is the thought that our other guys didn't make it to what could be considered a ripe old age for big dogs. Fazzy was a giant, and almost made it to nine years old; that would have put him at seventy-one, six years under the US human male life expectancy. And Nipper, a large breed, was only four when cancer got him -- just a kid in his thirties. 

However old Izzy is, though, we count by trips around the sun, and we celebrate his birthday. He was the most frustrating of the puppies, though. I saw my wife get more insane over his behavior one time than she's ever gotten over mine, or that of her crazy family, and trust me when I say that's a strong statement. And yet he has turned into the most affectionate dog of them all, a total cuddle muffin. I hope he has a long and happy life with us. 

Happy birthday, Iz.