Traditional clash

Dragon and Dog

Traditional clash

45%

Directly opposite on the wheel. Traditionally the most difficult pairing, because the qualities each of you values are the ones the other neglects.

Earth · Yang

Dragon

Brings. Attracts attention and opportunity without effort. Sets a high bar and clears it.

Struggles with. Impatient with limits and with people who need them explained.

Earth · Yang

Dog

Brings. Reliable to a fault and genuinely fair. The one who notices an injustice first.

Struggles with. Worries constantly, and judges harshly once trust is broken.

Distance on the wheel6 of 12
RelationTraditional clash
Same fixed elementYes

How Chinese compatibility works

The rule is positional. Animals four apart form an affinity triangle and are read as natural allies — they share instincts and pace. Animals six apart sit directly opposite and are the traditional clash: each values what the other neglects.

This differs from Western astrology, which uses angles on a 360-degree circle. Here the wheel has twelve positions and the relationships are counted in steps, not degrees.

Traditional pairings sometimes override the geometry — a few combinations are named explicitly as friends or enemies in the old texts, and those take precedence.

The full 144-pair grid →

Computed from 110 years of real lunar new year dates

The arithmetic behind this pairing

Chinese years run 354 or 384 days, so each animal collects a different number of days across the century — the shares below are not 8.33% each.

Positions apart on the cycle 6 — the classical clash
Pairings at this distance 6 of 78
Days assigned to Dragon 3,308 · 8.31%
Days assigned to Dog 3,251 · 8.17%
Share of all pairings 1.358%

6 positions apart · 6 of 78 pairings share that distance · 1.358% of all pairings. The clash — one pairing in thirteen.

Possible age gaps — fixed by the cycle

Because the animals sit at fixed positions, two people with these signs can only differ in age by certain numbers of years. Not approximately — exactly these:

6 years apart
18 years apart
30 years apart
42 years apart

Recent birth-year combinations

Wood Dragon 2024 & Earth Dog 2018 6 years apart
Wood Dragon 2024 & Metal Dog 2030 6 years apart
Water Dragon 2012 & Fire Dog 2006 6 years apart
Water Dragon 2012 & Earth Dog 2018 6 years apart
Metal Dragon 2000 & Wood Dog 1994 6 years apart
Metal Dragon 2000 & Fire Dog 2006 6 years apart
Earth Dragon 1988 & Water Dog 1982 6 years apart
Earth Dragon 1988 & Wood Dog 1994 6 years apart

The five versions of each animal

The animal repeats every 12 years but the element every 60, so each partner comes in five variants — and the combination you actually have is one of 25.

Earth Dragon 1988
Metal Dragon 2000
Water Dragon 2012
Wood Dragon 2024
Fire Dragon 1976
Wood Dog 1994
Fire Dog 2006
Earth Dog 2018
Metal Dog 2030
Water Dog 1982

Birth years for this pairing

⚠️ Each year starts at the lunar new year, not 1 January — if either of you was born in January or early February, check the exact date before trusting the animal.

Dragon

1964 · 1976 · 1988 · 2000 · 2012 · 2024

Dog

1970 · 1982 · 1994 · 2006 · 2018 · 2030