Since my chi was a rescue I pulled off the street out of traffic, I have no way of knowing his exact age. Is there any reliable way of trying to figure it out without knowing any background such as diet etc? Other than knowing he was at least one year since he had all his adult teeth and was his full size, I have no idea. He's obviously a young dog. Since I don't know his background, I'm trying to assign him an unofficial birthday, but don't know when I should make it. I don't know if he will be two years old, or maybe even three (though I tend to think closer to two). Or assuming he will be two on his next birthday, if that's closer to being in the next month or not for another three or four or more. Any ideas judging by how he looks in the pics in his album?

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"A dog is the only thing on earth that will love you more than you love yourself."

You should be able to tell a little by their teeth. If the teeth had a lot of plaque and tartar then it points to an older dog. The more buildup the older the dog. However, his teeth could have been cleaned regularly until you got him, and he had no plaque and tartar so it could be a little tougher to age him by his teeth.

He's white or almost white so it will be hard to go by any gray hairs around his muzzle. However, my Lab/Chow mix was all black and had gray hair from around 2 years old or maybe a little sooner. She never got any more gray for her 17 years.

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The most accurate way to tell age is by an eye exam. If you have a veterinary ophthalmologist in your area he/she can do an in depth exam and give you a good idea of his age.

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I didn't know about that. I'll have to look into it because I'm not sure about Venus's age. I hope there is an ophthalmologist in our area. She had little plaque build up on her and that's the only reason how we determined she was 2 or younger.

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My vet is the one that usually tells me their ages. Or the pound if they come from there. If you had her into the vet, didn't he/she determine an age for you? And instead of randomly picking a birthdate, why not celebrate her "gotcha" date, the date you rescued her and she became part of your family

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Thank you Jan for the wonderful siggy!

He didn't have any plaque or tartar on his teeth when I found him. And since he's on the raw diet with bones to chew, he hadn't gotten any. His teeth are nice and white.

He shows up lighter in pictures than he really is. He's more of a cream color, and there's no gray at all.

I never knew that. Unfortunately, that sounds like an expensive exam, and I don't have the money for that.

I work at a wildlife hospital and since I found him on the way to work, I took him in with me that day. One of the bosses there used to run a dog/cat shelter and she thought he was around one year. I just wish I knew if it was for instance, ten months and going to be a year, or if he's already a year and a half and on his way to two. As for the birthday, my husband had also suggested using the day I found him in which case I would be making that his one year birthday. But then again, since he's named after the character Quark from Star Trek's Deep Space Nine, I was thinking of using the birthday of the actor who played that character.

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"A dog is the only thing on earth that will love you more than you love yourself."

I second using a Gotcha Day. I celebrated Lilo's 2nd Gotcha Day this year. We think she was around 9 months to a year old when she was found and I adopted her but we don't worry about a birthday. I actually picked her up from her the rescue on my birthday so her Gotcha Day is my birthday! When someone asks how old she is I just add approximately a year to her Gotcha Day age.

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I guess then I'll go with his "Gotcha" day and assume that to be the one year old mark. Then I'll also be able to easier remember how long I've had him i.e. when he's two, I'll have had him one year etc.

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"A dog is the only thing on earth that will love you more than you love yourself."