Year of the Dog (戌): Personality, Compatibility & Years
Born in the Year of the Dog? Personality, love, career, compatibility, lucky tips and a full list of years, from the Japanese and Chinese zodiac.
At a glance
- Order
- 11 / 12 · Inu (戌)
- Branch element
- Earth
- Yin / Yang
- Yang
- Direction
- West-northwest
- Hours
- 19:00–21:00
Personality
The Dog is loyalty and protection. The character 戌 describes plants that have finished growing and begin to wither.
Strengths
Faithful, fair and responsible. You stand up for people who need it.
Watch out for
You may be anxious about the future and slow to trust newcomers.
Love
Devoted and protective. Once you commit, you are there for life.
Work
Law, medicine, education, security and any role that protects others.
Compatibility
Based on the classical relationships between the twelve branches: the trine (three harmonies), the six harmonies and the six clashes.
Years of the Dog
| 1934 | Yang Wood Dog (甲戌) |
| 1946 | Yang Fire Dog (丙戌) |
| 1958 | Yang Earth Dog (戊戌) |
| 1970 | Yang Metal Dog (庚戌) |
| 1982 | Yang Water Dog (壬戌) |
| 1994 | Yang Wood Dog (甲戌) |
| 2006 | Yang Fire Dog (丙戌) |
| 2018 | Yang Earth Dog (戊戌) |
| 2030 | Yang Metal Dog (庚戌) |
Each year begins at Risshun (around 4 February), the start of spring in the solar calendar. In China and Korea the animal is popularly counted from Lunar New Year instead, so people born between January and mid-February may see a different animal elsewhere.
Lucky tips
In Japan, expectant mothers visit a shrine on a Day of the Dog (inu no hi) in the fifth month of pregnancy to pray for a safe birth, as dogs are said to give birth easily.