Dogs age differently than people and it’s sometimes difficult to assess how old or mature they are. So, let’s talk about dachshund age in human years – how old is your Doxie really? Is the “1 to 7” rule true – 1 dog year being equal to 7 human years? Or is it just a myth and a cliché? Besides – Doxies live for quite longer than other dogs, so, does this make a difference?
Dachshund Age In Human Years And The “1 To 7” Rule
To put it plainly, the “1 to 7” rule is bogus and it’s not at all true. The reason people came to think that 1 dog year is equal to 7 human years is that they thought dogs live seven times fewer years than us. It sounds logical at first – dogs live an average of 10 years and people live an average of 70 years.
Yet, that’s just not how things work. For starters, both the human and canine average lifespans are subject to a lot of fluctuation given adequate healthcare. And, more importantly, dog breeds vary much more than the differences between people’s races and genders. This is especially obvious with dachshunds.
How long do dachshunds live on average?
To properly assess the dachshund age in human years we first see what that age is. Most experts cite an average of 12 to 16 years for dachshunds. This is not only true but it’s also much better than many other dog breeds.
For example, the average for Labrador Retrievers is 10 to 12 years, and the average for large breeds like the Great Dane, Bullmastiff, Shar Pei. and St. Bernard is just 8 to 10 years. There are even dogs from these breeds that tend to live to just 6 or 7 years due to certain life-threatening health problems.
So, a dachshund can live for about twice as long as many other dog breeds. And that’s just the average. If you have a healthy dachshund and you take good care of it, the dog can easily reach even 20 years of age – almost three times as much as certain large dog breeds.
Different aging progression
Another factor is that the way and tempo at which dogs mature is also different than with humans. Most dogs – almost regardless of their breed and size – will reach sexual maturity before or around their first birthday. If the “1 to 7” rule was true, that’d mean before their “7th” birthday. And that just doesn’t match with what we see in people who reach their biological sexual maturity in our teen years and our psychological maturity – at 18.
So, suffice it to say that the “1 to 7” rule just doesn’t work. Instead, to properly compare the dachshund age in human years, we’d need to get a bit more technical and specific.
Dachshund age chart
Here’s the current consensus among experts on how dachshund years can be translated into human years.
| Dachshund age | Human age |
| 2 months | 2 years and 6 months |
| 3 months | 3 years and 9 months |
| 4 months | 5 years |
| 5 months | 6 years and 3 months |
| 6 months | 7 years and 6 months |
| 7 months | 8 years and 3 months |
| 8 months | 10 years |
| 9 months | 11 years and 3 months |
| 10 months | 12 years and 6 months |
| 11 months | 13 years and 9 months |
| 1 year | 15 years |
| 2 years | 24 years |
| 3 years | 28 years |
| 4 years | 32 years |
| 5 years | 36 years |
| 6 years | 40 years |
| 7 years | 44 years |
| 8 years | 48 years |
| 9 years | 52 years |
| 10 years | 56 years |
| 11 years | 60 years |
| 12 years | 64 years |
| 13 years | 68 years |
| 14 years | 72 years |
| 15 years | 76 years |
| 16 years | 80 years |
| 17 years | 84 years |
| 18 years | 88 years |
| 19 years | 92 years |
| 20 years | 96 years |
Dachshund age calculator
If you’d rather use a calculator to see how old is my dachshund, check out this dog age calculator by Pedigree. You’d find that their estimations match our table above and they also work with other dog breeds.
When Is My Dachshund Considered A Senior Dog?
You’ll notice many experts saying that a dachshund is considered a senior once they hit 6 years of age. We too have said this in other articles here. Yet, from the chart and the calculator above you’ll notice that a 6-year-old dachshund is equivalent to a 40 y.o. human. What gives?
On the one hand, it’s true that considering a 6 y.o. dachshund a “senior” feels silly. After all, dachshunds live up to 16 years on average and can often reach or surpass the 20-year mark. So, by that logic, they spend 1 year as pups, 1 year as young adults, 4 years as adults, and 10-14 years as seniors? That doesn’t sound right.
Yet, on the other hand, dachshunds aren’t the healthiest dog breed out there, to put it mildly. So, if a 6 y.o. Doxie is equivalent to a 40 y.o. man, that’d be a 40 y.o. man in relatively poor health. And, it’s well-established that people’s forties are the middle-age border between our healthy years and the start of some advanced age ailments. It’s the same with dachshunds.
So, you don’t need to consider your 6 y.o. dachshund a senior – you can wait for the 10th year anniversary for that. However, you should definitely start treating your 6 y.o. Doxie is a “young senior” when it comes to injury prevention, food type, and quality, exercise safety, and mobility lifestyle (install ramps at home, etc).
In Conclusion, How Old Is Your Doxie?
The basic breakdown of a dachshund’s age goes as such:
- 0-1 years – a pup
- 1-2 years – adolescence
- 2-6 years – adulthood
- 6-16+ – senior years
With all that being said, we should note that, at the end of the day, age is quite individualistic. We may measure it in numbers but the dog’s health is much more important than the birthday in its passport. A 12 y.o. dachshund can be much healthier, lively, and “young-looking” than a 6 y.o. whose health you’ve neglected.
Read more about What Is The Average Lifespan Of A Miniature Dachshund?.
