Dear Matthew: We need to know how to convert dog years to human years. We have a golden retriever who just turned 17. -- David in Garden City, Kan.
Dear David: The most commonly given way of converting dog years to human years is to multiply the human year by seven. So, if your dog is 3 years old, it's 21 in human years.Of course, the common way isn't always the right way -- as is the case here. After all, if you multiplied your dog's 17 years by seven, that'd mean it would be 119 years old. Although 17 is old for a dog, it's not nearly as uncommon as 119 for us two-leggers.
The best way to convert dog years to human years is to use a sliding scale. Because dogs develop faster than people, they've reached young adulthood by the time they're two. So, each of the first two years of a dog's life equals about 10 human years (a 2-year-old dog is about 20, for instance).
Each dog year after that is equal to about five human years. Using this method, your golden retriever is the ripe old age of 95 (two times 10, plus 5 times 15.)
But it isn't quite that simple. Complicating this is the fact that different breeds of dogs have different life expectancies. Larger, huskier dogs have shorter lifespans, so a bullmastiff usually only lives to 10 or 11, while a miniature poodle can reach 20. And good breeding also plays a key factor, as a carefully selected, kennel-bred animal will usually outlast a puppy-mill product with a poor bloodline.
The bottom line is this: You should be proud your golden retriever has reached such a dignified old age. It reflects well on how much you care about your pet. Cherish the remaining time you have!
Dear Matthew: Help! I have two labs who are, of course, perfect (if you ignore the fact that the 10-month-old thinks "Come" means run the other way and act like an idiot). My question concerns the neighbor dog -- a black and tan coon hound.
He is a 3-year-old sweetheart who loves to play and bark. The barking does not bother me, but it drives his owner wild.
The owner's first solution to the problem was to train their 7-year-old rottie to attack the coon hound and thus stop the barking. Needless to say, the rottie came to believe that this behavior was a good thing, which gained her praise -- and the attacks escalated. Eventually she turned on the people in the house, and they put this dog down last week. Now the owner chases the coon hound around with a stick, screaming, "Come here." When the dog gets close, she beats it. Any advice would be appreciated. -- Scott in Kettering, Ohio
Dear Scott: I think even stuffed animals may be too much for this owner to handle. She obviously has a short temper and is easily frustrated, and she's taking it out on her dog -- who doesn't know any better.
I recommend consulting your local Humane Society and seeing if it could get involved. Perhaps the threat of authority will be enough to show that dogs learn best when trained with love, not fear.
I urge all my readers, to do their best to prevent animal cruelty -- through educating and leading by example.
Read all of Matthew Margolis' columns at the Creators Syndicate Web site www.creators.com. Write him at 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. (C) Creators Syndicate Inc.