Doggie Adolescence

The standard way to understand how old your dog is in people years is 1=7. Thus, a seventeen and one-half year old dog is 17.5 X 7 = 122.5 years old in people years. (Yes, Suzy is still alive as I write.) This ignores a lot of developmental biology (and breed variation). A better-- although not perfect-- way is to use a formula that equates a dog's first year with a human's first 15. Thereafter, each dog year equals six human years. (On this model, Suzy is 15 + (16.5 x 6) = only 114.) 

In my humble opinion, given my limited understanding of mammalian growth patterns, the first year of 1=15 needs to be parsed out a bit more, but... .

Missy is now about seven & one half months old. Again, I am opposed to doing this, but on the 1=15  model, Missy is, roughly speaking, a little over nine years old. 

Behaviorally, I'd put her at an Advanced 13, maybe 14. 

Remember when everyone was asking me why I named her "Missy?" 

I answered, 

"Miss Manners," "Miss M., who loves manners."

"No, Missy! We don't do that!"

Missy has learned some manners, but she has a way to go.