Animation Source Forums

Humans do. Dogs do not.

Not true. 1 year for a dog is the equivalent to 7 human years. So if a dog was 2 years old then that dog would be 14 in human years which is a teen age. And obviously if a dog was 3 years old, it would be 21 in human years. So if a dog was between the ages of 2 and 3 it would be a teenage dog.

As for Balto, I don't think he was a teenager, I think he was around 3 or 4 years old.

Well I have to certainly agree with "Mighty" on this, Dogs don't really become "Teens" Thats merely for humans, in relation to growth and Stages in life.

Dogs only go from Puppy to adult, theres really no in-between with them, like there is with humans, though as they grow, and go from the "Puppy" to "Adult" stage, they can mirror traits that can be like that of a human teen, but I don't think they have a straight up teen stage in life. Though it is pretty apparent that they were trying to give him a more "Human-like" personality and what not in the movie. I still believe he was just an adult dog.

And the noticable differences that you noted in the different films about Balto's Appearance, is due to the fact that they had a whole new team of animators working on the sequels. Theres the answer to that. I don't think that was intentional to make him look older.

Like indian summer, dogs change quickly from puppy to full grown, there IS no in-between years

Sorry, try again. Trying to say dogs can be teenagers is something people say to try and put more human characteristics on animals. They have a "puppy" stage and an "adult" stage. No matter how much you try and say there is a "teen" stage, there isn't.

Actually, the "teen" stage is historically an artificial state which was added into popular thought around the sixties. For the bulk of human history, and continuing to this day in some parts of the world, the "teen" years were in many ways part of adulthood, with all the rights and responsibilities pertaining thereto (this has echoes, for example, in the Jewish Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, at which thirteen-year-olds are officially counted as adults with regard to responsibility for their actions). So teenagers are, in some sense, a relatively new invention even by human standards.

I'd have to go with my gut and say no. Although it'd seem as thought he was, his voice proves otherwise. I think he may have been in his early twenties, or if he was in his teens, it had to have been the late ones. Cause otherwise, they would have chosen another voice actor. x3

If he was teen probably in his late teen years to early 20s.

There are no TEEN years for animals. It kinda goes from child to adult. I don't fully understand the full chemistry of it, but there are no "teen years" for animals like humans have.

I've alway imagined Balto to be a few months short of 3 years old in the movie--about 16-17 dog years. It's at this stage that most humans seem to be interested in finding a soulmate, but they still have some of the characteristics of children in that they're kind of arrogant in that they think they can do more than they can. And since this movie was a kind of anthropomorphism of dogs, they portryaed Balto as the canine equivalent of a human with a similar age.

I find this age range also works with Jenna. As can be seen in the movie, she was torn between staying with Rosy and following Balto. This is equivalent to the personality changes people in this age range may go through--weighing the decision to stay with their family longer against going out and becoming more independent. Plus, it would have been around this time that Steele would have been looking for a good mate--he had been in the prime of his career, young adulthood. (The fact that Jenna would have been much younger than him is the character's own problem.)

Actually, Sugarland is right...and any of you who said that dogs don't experience "teens" would be mistaken. Though it is understandable to a degree. There is no such thing as a canine "teenager" so much as there IS a canine "adolescent". Dogs most definitely have this period in their lives, though it usually occurs around the period of 6 months or so, and ends after they reach about a year old...give or take. And this is acknowledged in the professional dog training and veterinary (and canine behavioral) fields. A quick search of the internet under that subject will result in MANY articles...some more reputable than others (or created by more or less reputable authors, depending upon the particular article in question).

"Teenager", as DT inferred, is a term created by our modern society to smack a convenient label upon what is actually, and more accurately, referred to as "adolescent" in physiological and psychological terms. And it is as much real in canines and felines (and other mammals) as it is in homo sapiens...though it occurs at a different stage of life (thanks to the great variances in aging between our species). And the physiological and psychological changes, and the aberrant behaviors, are practically the same regardless of the species -- a tendency towards rebellion and independence (to varying degrees), sexually heightened feelings, even greater emotional swings (and yes, other higher-order mammals, such as canines and felines, have them just as we humans do...just not in such great complexity or richness as we do since they are largely still governed by instinctual genetics).

Don't be so quick to dismiss something because it doesn't sound right, folks.

As to Balto being a teenager in the first movie? I don't think so. He was, I think, a "young adult", if you want to put it in human terms. Remembering, of course, that we're talking about a cartoon character here (it continually astounds me that so many members of this site try to pin down genetics, behavior and other real-world factors to cartoon characters, whether they are based upon real-world counterparts or are completely fictional. And especially-so in the latter case ). The REAL Balto's age was very much (and still IS very much) a subject of controversial debate...and no hard, definitive record has come forth to resolve that conclusively. Three seems the most likely age at the time of the serum run, but it could have been different. We only know, for absolute certainty, the exact date of his death. Not that of his birth. And until an irrefutable official document is openly and publicly revealed, which gives his exact date of birth, let NO ONE, on this site or elsewhere, try to convince you otherwise.

Let's just put it this way, Balto is full grown; therefore an adult.