It’s usually just before lights out, and right before I get into my own bed, that I lay down with Kloe for our night time ritual of cuddles and whispers of sweet nothings. She lays curled up on her mat looking aristocratic and regal. My eyes are fixed on her and she stares back at me with her big and loving chestnut eyes. There is no denying that at eight years old Kloe is entering her senior years. As I approach I call her “Queenie” and our brief ritual begins. Although at times Kloe still exhibits puppy-like behavior, true to her breed, her face is seasoned and peppered with a greying muzzle.
Kloe is our only Golden Retriever that we adopted as a true straight from the litter puppy. Bailey, our first Golden, was 18 months when we rescued him years ago as a birthday present for our son. Kali was approximately five when she flew from Taiwan into our lives and hearts. Koda, although still a puppy, was four months when she stormed into our pack.
Kloe was just nine weeks. She was from a litter of three other females. I can remember meeting all three puppies and noticing Kloe’s calm demeanor and a pouty face. I loved the pouty face!… Fast forward and now at lights out, as I lay next to my eight year old Queenie, I see the same pouty face that I saw in that seven week old puppy. It makes me happy that I can still see the puppy in her face. Although I’m glad that in some ways we are growing “older” together, the reality is that Kloe will very pass before I do if we are both fortunate enough to live our full life’s expectancy.
So how old is Kloe in human years?
There are various ways to calculate your dog’s age. The most common method, although not accurate, is seven years for every human year. In Dr. Karen Shaw Becker’s book The Forever Dog she references a 2019 study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego. In their research they found that most dogs follow a similar developmental trajectory reaching puberty at ten months and dying before age twenty. The research team created a new way to measure aging in dogs which, as Dr. Becker says, is a “bit more complex than multiplying by seven”. This formula, the researchers say, applies to dogs older than one. In other words once the dog turns one the math works. The formula is 16 x ln (where ln is the dog’s age) +31. To work out your dog’s “human” age, first enter the dog’s age then press ln on a scientific calculator. Then multiply the figure you get by 16, and finally add 31.
When I do this for Kloe’s age which is eight, the result is 64.3
More dog and less science…
One recent evening during our lights out ritual and as Kloe and I were nose to nose, I realized something I had not thought of before. It dawned on me that with our pups we often see them go from wee little puppy, to adolescent, to adulthood, to senior, to end-of-life. We watch them go through their entire life spanning stages and years. I won’t see this with my human children. Of course I would not want to. No child should pass before their parent. But with our pups, at least for me, it’s different.
Kloe is healthy, runs like a gazelle with her muscular physique on full display, and can chase down and catch a ball like a major league center fielder. Over the coming years I’ll see her continue to age. I’ll see her greying muzzle day-by day turn into a classic “clown face” (I wish there was a better term for that). She’ll begin to slow and eventually the slow will turn to stop. When that time comes I will consider it a blessing and an honor to have been there with my sweet Kloe for the entire and full run of a dog’s life.
Forget the science. Forget the formulaic manner in which to measure arbitrary milestones. One month, one year, one day? How about one life?
And It all began with a pouty face.
2016: Kloe 9 weeks old and first day home
Golden Kali 