Chinese zodiac 2018
Year of the Earth Dog
16 February 2018 to 4 February 2019
Born in 2018? Your sign depends on the day
The animal changes at Lunar New Year, not on 1 January. In 2018 it falls on 16 February 2018.
- 16 February to 31 December 2018
- 🐕 Earth Dog
- and on to 4 Feb 2019
Check an exact birth date
The Earth Dog at a glance
Animal
🐕 Dog
Said to be loyal, honest, protective.
Element
土 Yang Earth
Linked with stability and patience. Each element rules two years in a row.
Length
354 days
A regular year of twelve lunar months.
Other Dog years
The 60-year cycle
Animal and element line up again only every 60 years. The Earth Dog years nearest to this one are 1958 and 2078.
Who gets on with the Dog
Allies
Four years apart. The three animals of a trine are said to share a temperament.
Secret friend
One of six fixed pairs said to complement each other.
Opposite
Six years apart, directly across the wheel. Tradition calls this the hardest pairing.
Friction
One of six fixed pairs said to rub each other the wrong way.
Bonds come from each animal's position among the twelve, as tradition sets them. They describe the Dog sign in general, not any one person.
Dates are computed estimates from the Hong Kong Observatory's calendar tables, counted in China's time zone. Some traditions change the animal at the start of spring (around 4 February) instead of at Lunar New Year.