4. Myth: One human year is equivalent to seven dog years.

谬误4：人类一年相当于狗的7年。

Here’s something to think about: at a young age, a small dog is older than a large dog, but with age, the small dog becomes younger than the larger breed. How can this be? Turns out dog aging is quite complex, and the most important factor is that it’s related to the dogs physical size. Larger breeds age much faster than smaller breeds. It’s thought that on average a two-year old dog compares to a teenager of 14 or 15 years or a young adult of 18 to 25 years, depending on the breed. Dog aging slows down after two years, debunking the seven to one ratio. The ratio between dog years and human years is therefore much more complex than seven to one, and there is no specific dog-to-human age ratio that is universally accepted.

想一想下面这些事：在狗小的时候，一只小狗比一只大狗年龄大，但随着年龄增长，小狗变得比大犬种更年轻。这怎么可能呢？原来狗的老化是相当复杂的，最重要的因素是与狗的身体大小有关。大犬种的老化程度远远快于较小犬种。人们认为，平均两年龄的狗相当于14或15岁的少年或18到25岁的年轻人，取决于不同的犬种。狗的老化2年后减缓，揭穿了7比1的假象。所以，狗年和人类年之比的复杂程度远非7比1那么简单，目前尚未有得到公认的，具体的狗与人类的年龄比。