Researchers bust the seven-year dog myth

A new project aims to find out how longevity in some dogs can be applied to human lives

(Getty Images)

It has long been believed that dogs age seven times faster than humans, but a new study has busted the myth and wants to shed light on how our canine friends actually age.

The old adage would mean that a one-year-old dog is seven in “human years”. However, different breeds age at different rates, with large breeds ageing ten times quicker than humans and some small dogs can be half of that.

A major study called The Dog Ageing Project aims to examine the genomes of 10,000 dogs to see why “super centenarian” dogs that can live till the age of 20 survive for so long.

The researchers want to identify specific biomarkers of canine ageing and translate to apply their findings to human ageing.

Professor Joshua Akey, at Princeton University, said: “This is a very large, ambitious, wildly interdisciplinary project that has the potential to be a powerful resource for the broader scientific community.

“Personally, I find this project exciting because I think it will improve dog, and ultimately, human health.”

Prof Akey said that that the study , believed to be the first of its kind, will produce “one of the largest genetics data sets ever produced for dogs”, which will help scientists understand how genetics impact ageing.

The research will also help “answer more fundamental questions about the evolutionary history and domestication of dogs”, he added.

The “super-centenarian” part of the study will compare the DNA of dogs that live for an exceptionally long time to those that live to the average age for their breed.

Dogs are one of the most genetically diverse species in the world and have been bred into a huge array of difference sizes, colours, and body types.

According to the RSPCA, the average lifespan of certain popular dog breeds can vary from 5.5 years for a Dogue de Bordeaux (also known as a French Mastiff) to 14.2 years for a miniature poodle.

The researchers from The Dog Ageing Project anticipate their findings will apply to human ageing because dogs experience almost the same functional decline and diseases of ageing that humans do.

Veterinary care also has many parallels with human healthcare, and dogs share much of the same lived environment as humans, which is a major determinant of ageing and one that cannot be recreated in any lab setting.

Professor Daniel Promislow, from the University of Washington and the principal investigator of the study, said: “Given that dogs share the human environment and have a sophisticated health care system but are much shorter-lived than people, they offer a unique opportunity to identify the genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors associated with healthy lifespan.”

The project has been outlined in the journal Nature.

Additional reporting by SWNS