A Dog's Life: How to Understand Your Dogs Precious Years
We as humans usually have at least several dogs through out our lives and sometimes many more. It seems a dogs life is painfully short relative to our lifespan and we sometimes have a hard time understanding what the actual ratio is.
It is commonly accepted that one dog year is equal to seven human years.
Find out why this is not necessarily true.
When you first bring home that lovable puppy that will become an irreplaceable companion to you and your family, you think they will live forever.
Unfortunately it is not true and all to soon it seems like they are only with you for a short period of time and then gone from your life.
Relative to our human years, our dogs are with us for a very short while and the old adage that one of their years equal seven years of our lives definitely seems to be very relative.
In actuality a dogs life span is not readily established due to many factors. It is determined by many things like breed, size, environment, etc. Also because dogs are euthanized when they become ill or incapacitated it is impossible to determine a standard life span for them. Unlike us humans that can be cured and cared for many years after we are older.
Recently dog insurance has become available that can help defray some of the high cost of emergency and the normal medical care of dogs. This could assist in increasing a dogs life expectancy because as much as we love them, cost is and has always been a factor in our decisions concerning them unfortunately.
A dogs environment may well be the best indicator of their continued life. A dog that is treated as part of the family and has constant contact with the humans in their life, will always live longer than one who is left out in the elements to survive on their own.
A dog that is allowed to be indoors and has constant contact with the humans in their life, will always live longer than one who is left out in the elements to survive on their own. Even with a dog house, food and water they will usually not live as long due to the struggle of constantly trying to battle the elements. Nothing replaces the love and and attention of human interaction and the fact that you are aware of their current condition.
Genetics is the one thing we can not control in our dogs and it is also a big factor in how long they live
As a rule the smaller breeds live longer than the larger breeds and there are even variations within certain types of breeds.
Smaller dogs can live anywhere from 12-15 years or longer sometimes. The medium to large dogs average 10-12 years and as with any dog breed there are exceptions to the rule.
We have precious little time with our dogs and we may have many through out our relatively long lives. They are all special and unique in their own way and of course they will always live on through our memories.
Just remember your dog only has a relatively little time and they want to be with you and your family being loved and cared for as best you can.
Quote
Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really.
Agnes Sligh Turnbull
About the Author
Theresa Hendricks lives in San Antonio Texas and has been a dog lover all her life. She currently has a Yellow Labrador Retriever named Dusty and has a blog about his life and other dog related subjects. The blog is http://sirdogalot.com
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