Just about everyone has heard of the old "seven year theory". If not it is the system where each year of a dog or cats life is thought to be the equivalent of 7 of our years. An example of this thinking would be that a 1 year old dog would be the equivalent age and developmental equal of a 7 year old human. Now just how many 7 year old children do you know that are sexually mature -and able to reproduce, none? A cat or dog is much more likely to have a litter when it is one year of age or younger, or at the other extreme, ten years or older, than is a human who is under the age of seven or over the age of seventy!
In the early 1950's a French veterinarian, Monsieur LeBeau, developed another system to address this problem. In LeBeau's system, a dog/cat of 1 year in age became the equivalent of a 15 year old human largely due to the onset of puberty in each species. The second year of a dog/cats life became the equivalent of a 24 year old person- someone/ something that has reached full sexual maturity. After two years of age, each year of an animals life would be equal to 4 years of human life.
In recent research it has been found that it is very common that an animal may live past his ALE when given improved care, activity, social and psychological stimulation. If we go back and examine the oldest living dogs on record, we can begin to see that most had a moderate exercise program that included varying levels of psychological and social stimulation.
Currently, the oldest living dog on record worked as a herding dog in Australia (29 years old). The runner-up, was a mere 27 years of age, was a Lab who lived in the home of a game keeper in England. Other famous notables include Higgins, a terrier on Petticoat Junction and the Beverly Hillbillies(20); Pal, a collie who started the role of Lassie(18);and, last but certainly not least, Rin Tin Tin, movie star and German Shepherd who lived to be at least 16 years of age.
