My dog is aging. When is a large or mixed breed dog considered senior?

Large-giant breed types age faster and have a lower life expectancy of 8-10 but cross breeds can be much hardier than true st bernards. Again maintaining a healthy lifestyle and regular checks ups are important to highlight any changes as they age http://www.akc.org/content/entertainment/articles/how-to-calculate-dog-years-to-human-years/

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This depends on the breed and size of the dog to some extent. For a small breed dog it would be like 10 years of age and for a large breed dog it would more like 8-9 years of age. Have a great day!

There is no way at all of predicting how long any of us will be alive; most medium-large dogs can have a life expectancy of 9-11years but if he is in good health continue to monitor closely, feed well, exercise regularly and consider annual check up and blood tests to identify any health concerns early

Great question! Generally a senior dog is around seven and eight years of age, but smaller breeds may be considered seniors a little later in life, such as around 10 years of age. You can wait until Grover is at least eight years of age before staring him on a senior food, but if he's healthy and active, you can wait until he is 10. Best of luck, I hope this helps :-)

Riley will not be considered a senior dog until she is nine years old. Some would estimate as early as eight years. Housecalls may be possible in your area. I recommend to go online and look for a veterinarian who performs house calls. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Lady should have a physical exam at least once a year regardless of her age because pets age much faster than humans. Geriatric pets should get an exam every 6 months and bloodwork at least once a year. Small breed dogs are considered geriatric at 9 years old. At that time, she should definitely have an exam and a discussion about different foods, exercise recommendations, bloodwork...etc. Good job on thinking proactively! I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

The truth is that any age estimate beyond a year is just a guess, so it's definitely possible that the vet was wrong. However, the vet does have the advantage of seeing many different dogs in different age groups, so their guess does have some good experience to back it. I can see why the vet would guess an age beyond seven years, because Sara does appear to be quite grey. However, this happens at various ages in different dogs, so there's no way to know for sure if she is actually over seven. I know it's sad that they live such short little lives, but if you keep her from getting overweight and have regular vet exams, then she should stay happy and healthy for a good number of years. I hope that helps and all is well with Sara.