How can you tell a dogs age?

[PinkFlamingoFrm]

Im curious if there is any other ways to tell a dogs age other than their teeth?
I have taken my dog to 3 different vets in the last year, due to disagreeing with their practices. We finally found a good vet that doesnt feel that they need to euthanize every animal they see & thats where we are going to stay.. but I have asked each vet when I took her in their opinion on how old my dog is. Shes a pit bull & goes through a full cow leg a week from the meat market so her teeth are very white & pretty. Each vet tells me that she is 2-3 years old by looking at her teeth, then they notice the grey hairs on her face & get confused. I got her 6 years ago, and she was full size and had already had 2 litters of puppies. The spca told me she was a year old when I got her, but the math doesnt add up for that. Obviously it doesnt really matter how old she is, I just have always been curious of how old she actually is. I have also been thinking about doing a DNA test to see what all she is mixed with, because I love her temperament, but do they have something like that to determine age? Or is teeth the only way?

 

[SunnySkies]

Nope. Teeth are it, except some dogs -- not all -- will develop lenticular sclerosis, that blue haze often mistaken for cataracts -- after age 7. It is never seen before age 7. Not all dogs do it, but if you do, the dog is at least 7. But it can appear after 7. But it gets you in the ball park.

From what you write, as a veterinarian myself, I would guess her age to be at least 8. Some people start breeding at first heat, which appears between 6-12 months in a large breed dog. They could have bred her back to back, which means 2 litters in 12-18 months. So she could have been as young as 18-24 months when you got her, but hopefully she was at least 2-3, even though even that is too young, as the first litter should not be until they are 2. Ideally, she was 4-5, having had litters at the appropriate ages with appropriate spacing, when you got her, which would put her at 10ish now. So I would guess 8-10 years, but a little older could still be within the realm of possibility.

IME, shelters always age them younger. It's much easier to adopt that 3 year old as a 15 month old. I had one come in recently that was obviously at least 2, but they had called 9 months....it had a full mouth of adult teeth with some tartar! lol

 

[Nicole01]

We've had our Aussie rescue for 3-4 years now. Her teeth for some odd reason are just as white as the day we got her. Good genetics I guess. Her nose wasn't fully darkened, that's how we figured her age. She came to us with a cow looking nose with the pink pigment covering 1/2 her nose and now it's fully grown in.

Our golden is about the same age as our Aussie and her teeth are aging with her.

 

[PinkFlamingoFrm]

Nope. Teeth are it, except some dogs -- not all -- will develop lenticular sclerosis, that blue haze often mistaken for cataracts -- after age 7. It is never seen before age 7. Not all dogs do it, but if you do, the dog is at least 7. But it can appear after 7. But it gets you in the ball park.

From what you write, as a veterinarian myself, I would guess her age to be at least 8. Some people start breeding at first heat, which appears between 6-12 months in a large breed dog. They could have bred her back to back, which means 2 litters in 12-18 months. So she could have been as young as 18-24 months when you got her, but hopefully she was at least 2-3, even though even that is too young, as the first litter should not be until they are 2. Ideally, she was 4-5, having had litters at the appropriate ages with appropriate spacing, when you got her, which would put her at 10ish now. So I would guess 8-10 years, but a little older could still be within the realm of possibility.

IME, shelters always age them younger. It's much easier to adopt that 3 year old as a 15 month old. I had one come in recently that was obviously at least 2, but they had called 9 months....it had a full mouth of adult teeth with some tartar! lol

Thanks. Well shes atleast 7, so hopefully she doesnt develop that haze because my grandparents dog had that & it creeped me out .
Yeah I was guessing she was atleast 2 when I got her, she was rescued from a pit bull fighting ring, so Im sure they didnt care about her welfare when they had her. I was assuming she was about 8.. but I dont really know much about how to tell, that was just an estimate that made sense to me.
They charge less for older dogs, so thats probably another reason that they age them younger. Either way, it doesnt matter to me. I went into the shelter & picked the dog with the closest "put down" date. She was 3 days away, so shes the one I picked. You wouldnt know shes a day over 2 with the energy she has. She acts like shes still a puppy.

 

[PinkFlamingoFrm]

We've had our Aussie rescue for 3-4 years now. Her teeth for some odd reason are just as white as the day we got her. Good genetics I guess. Her nose wasn't fully darkened, that's how we figured her age. She came to us with a cow looking nose with the pink pigment covering 1/2 her nose and now it's fully grown in.

Our golden is about the same age as our Aussie and her teeth are aging with her.

My dogs nose has been brown the whole time, or atleast as long as I can remember lol. Does your aussie eat alot of bones? I was attributing her teeth to bones, but maybe its genetics..who knows. Ive looked at my moms great danes & bulldogs teeth just out of curiosity, because they are 7 &8 and their teeth are icky & they even take them to the vet to have their teeth cleaned. I have never had my dogs teeth cleaned and I've never seen any kind of ick on them. I dont see the risk in cleaning her teeth being worth it since hers are clean without it.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I was going to say about 8 myself, based on the numbers you put in your first post. Its easiest to age them before their adult teeth come in. After that its a lot of guessing!