10 years in dog years is about 60 human years

10 years in human years, by size

Dog age calculator, with 10 years filled in: change the size, or work a human age back to dog years.

Medium dogs turn senior

VCA counts medium dogs as seniors from 10. AVMA’s chart gives a 10-year-old medium dog 60 human years, and Merck’s table lists 10 to 12 dog years as 56 to 64.

This is the year the large-dog chart passes the DNA clock: 68 human years against 67.8. Only the small and medium lines are still below it.

What changes from 9 to 10

This birthday adds 4 for a small dog, 4 for a medium dog, 5.5 for a large dog and 7.5 for a giant dog in human years on the chart. The DNA clock adds 1.7.

Life stage at 10

Small dogs are mature adults; medium, large and giant dogs are seniors at 10, by the stages of the 2019 AAHA guidelines and the senior ages of VCA (small 11, medium 10, large 8, giant 7).

Medium dogs turn senior at 10.

What the DNA clock says about a 10-year-old dog

Wang et al. (Cell Systems, 2020) matched the DNA methylation of 104 Labrador retrievers with that of people and fitted human age = 16 × ln(dog age) + 31. For 10 years that is 67.8 human years, 7.8 more than the 60 of AVMA’s chart for a medium dog.

At 10, the chart reads older than the clock for large and giant dogs and younger for small and medium dogs: the clock slows down with age while the bigger sizes keep a steep line.

The seven-year rule at this age

Seven times 10 is 70. The chart puts a 10-year-old dog between 56 and 84 human years by size, and the medium dog at 60, so the rule is 10 human years too high for a medium dog. No veterinary source on this page uses it.

Frequently asked questions

How old is a 10-year-old dog in human years?

About 56 for a small dog (20 lb or less), 60 for a medium dog (21 to 50 lb), 68 for a large dog (51 to 100 lb) and 84 for a giant dog (over 100 lb), on the charts of AVMA, Merck and PetMD. Your veterinarian can tell you where your own dog is.

Is a 10-year-old dog a senior?

It depends on its size: at 10, a medium, large or giant dog is a senior by VCA’s ages, a small dog not yet. AAHA defines a senior as a dog in the last 25% of its expected life.