Year of the Dog: Years List, Traits & Compatibility

Recent Years of the Dog: 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030. The sign returns every 12 years; the next one after 2018 is 2030. Each occurrence pairs the Xu (戌) branch with a different Heavenly Stem, so the same animal appears as Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water versions across a 60-year cycle.

A zodiac year starts at Lunar New Year, not on January 1. Lunar New Year falls between January 21 and February 20, so anyone born in that window should check the exact start date in the table below before assuming the sign.

The 2018 Year of the Dog (Earth Dog, Wu-Xu 戊戌) runs from February 16, 2018 to February 4, 2019, while Li Chun, the year-pillar boundary used by many Bazi schools, falls on February 4, 2018. The next Year of the Dog begins on February 3, 2030. A Chinese zodiac year does not start on January 1. The popular zodiac year begins at Lunar New Year (late January to mid-February), while many Bazi schools change the year pillar at the Li Chun solar term (around February 4). Use the table to check a January or February birthday against both boundaries.

In the Chinese calendar the Dog is a label for Xu (戌), the 11th of the twelve Earthly Branches. Xu is Yang Earth. It marks the two-hour period of 7–9 pm, the west-northwest direction, and late autumn.

In a Bazi chart Xu is also the branch of the 9th solar month, which begins at the Han Lu (寒露, Cold Dew) solar term. Its hidden stems are Wu 戊 (Yang Earth), Xin 辛 (Yin Metal), Ding 丁 (Yin Fire). Those hidden stems are why the same animal can read differently from one chart to another: they interact with the Day Master in ways the animal symbol does not show.

The traditional relationships are fixed by branch position rather than by personality:

• Six combination (Liu He): Dog and Rabbit.
• Triad (San He): Tiger, Horse, Dog, which together form a Fire frame.
• Clash (Chong): Dog and Dragon, the branch six places away.
• Six harm (Liu Hai): Dog and Rooster.

These pairings describe how the branches interact in a calendar or chart. They are not a verdict on any relationship, and a full Bazi comparison looks at all four pillars of both people. The compatibility chart lists the same patterns for every sign.

Popular zodiac writing describes Dog people as loyal, fair-minded, and protective. Treat that as cultural symbolism attached to the Xu branch, not as a personality test: the year animal is one of eight characters in a birth chart, and the Day Master (the stem of the day pillar) carries more weight in a Bazi reading.

2026 is a Bing-Wu (丙午) Fire Horse year. For the Dog, Wu is a member of the same Fire triad. The 2026 forecast explains how that relationship is usually read, and why it should be checked against the full chart.