The old adage is that a dog is 7 years older for every calendar year of his age. That's kind of an average number and it really depends a lot on the breed of dog, and is it a big dog or a little dog? Small breeds tend to live longer so their "number" actually is lower than seven.

"Seven" is also just an average number when we consider how fast a dog matures. The first year of their life probably equals 20 years of a human's life! Heck, they are already having puppies by their first birthday. So the number is higher at first and accumulates slower as dogs age.

As humans, we deal with all kinds of medical issues as part of the aging process. Our eyes stop working for some reason (I seem to be in the middle of that right now) and where do all of those aches and pains come from anyway? And why does the dentist think he has to see me every 3 months? Aye yi yi...cholesterol, blood pressure, sugar, incontinence, hearing aids (huh?...what was that?), corns and bunions...the list goes on and on. Oh geez, and now Arnie Palmer tells me I have to worry about my prostate gland!

Read the rest of Dr. Keeker's blog as posted on Indy Creative Aging!