How old will you dog live to?

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
From BBC News today:

Dog life expectancy at birth

Jack Russell Terrier 12.72 years

Yorkshire Terrier 12.54 years

Border Collie 12.10 years

Springer Spaniel 11.92 years

Crossbred 11.82 years

Labrador Retriever 11.77 years

Staffordshire Bull Terrier 11.33 years

Cocker Spaniel 11.31 years

Shih-tzu 11.05 years

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 10.45 years

German Shepherd Dog 10.16 years

Boxer 10.04 years

Beagle 9.85 years

Husky 9.53 years

Chihuahua 7.91 years

American Bulldog 7.79 years

Pug 7.65 years

English Bulldog 7.39 years

French Bulldog 4.53 years

2
Our Viszla will turn 17 in autumn. Started slowing down over the past couple of years but still going strong.

3

Parents-in-law’s Jack Russell made it to 16. As did the cat.

4
Wow, why the difference between bulldogs? Or is that just the British ...

5
My hot dog yesterday lived less than 3 minutes.

6
My labrador is my world. I can't bear to think about the day when she's no longer with me.

7
70 is fine.

More than that, taking the piss.

Tom

8
And 200?

9
Chihuahua less than 8 years seems low.

My sweet mystery mix Lily made it to 4 days shy of 17.

10
Here is the link.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61262371

must say I was surprised, I expected mixed breeds to be top of the list.

Our first dog was a mixed breed, found on the street when is was about 2-3 (according to vet) and he had him 17 years and really fit to the last couple of months. Same for our second dog, but she was much bigger, German shepherd mix. Even our adopted dachshund lived to be 16, diabetic and blind for his last year, but so happy to the end. The last one we 'adopted' was a Jack Russel type, but larger, and lived to nearly 16, but went downhill fast due to kidney damage. So I've got to expect dogs to live to well over 15 as 'normal'.

I guess we have been really lucky.

11

One of the great scandals of Dogdom is that the bracycephalic dogs have been bred for deformities that can be life-limiting, such as breathing difficulties, spinal disease, eye deformities, and difficulty in giving birth. Same is true of several breeds, but the bracycephalics are an extreme example, made worse by their popularity and the Dark Side cashing in. (That's a whole 'nutha thread...)

The article also notes that young dogs are overrepresented in the Frenchie stats, skewing the average, largely due to the rise in popularity of the breed. In time you might see that statistic change.

IMO an important point in the article, quoting here, my underline:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-61262371

Many factors affect how long your dog will live, making average lifespans only partially useful.

Take for example the Chihuahua. Life expectancy from age zero is 7.9 years. You might think therefore that there isn't much point in rescuing a six-year-old Chihuahua at a dogs home because the average age at death for the breed suggests you'll only get to spend less than two years with it.

But veterinary records show quite a lot of Chihuahuas will die at a young age, pulling down that average life expectancy. And this means a Chihuahua that's reached six will likely live a lot longer than eight. We know some Chihuahuas will get to 15 or 16.

"It's that phrase 'damn lies and statistics'," said study co-author Dr Dan O'Neill.

---

I do not see average lifespan as particularly relevant, and certainly not personally relevant, given that so many factors are at play. Nurture vs nature, and all that. It would be interesting to see the data broken down.

I'm glad sheltie averages didn't enter into my decision to adopt Haifisch at 12 years old... he lived to a few days short of 18. Six years of the best years of my life. I hope articles like this don't put people off adopting oldies - or providing appropriate care for their oldies.

---

One line in the article is rather chilling:

With insurance for pets ever more common, actuaries will be keen readers of the new tables.

12
Yes, all to be taken with a pinch of salt. It turned up on my page, and thought it was interesting at least.

Sadly, all insurance is based on risk and statitics. I know, as we have had to pay way above normal rate, and with exclusions, for our mortgage all our lives, as OH had life-threatening pre-exisiting conditions. Same for holiday insurance.

We have never had pet insurance ourselves, and it has saved us a fortune. Again, we were very lucky.

13
My Schipperke lived to almost 19...they are very long lived. My Saluki made it to almost 17, but with bad arthritis. Both had very long pedigrees from good breeders. Those were the good old days.

Our apple-head Siamese sisters made it to 20, when one died. The other followed within a month...

14
I find the list to be highly off.... of course understanding it might be the average but still. Small breeds tend to live longer than the large ones but a Chihuahua under 8?!

The Chihuahuas in our family: 12.5 years (he had an enlarged heart and a trachea problem- he was fine until the last 5 months when it all went downhill quickly), 15 years 10 months and my parents' chihuahua still going at 16 years 4 months.

The Dachshunds we've had were 14 years and 13 years 7 months.

My partner's yorkies were 15.5 years and the other lived until 18 years 10 months!

15
We never had pet insurance with Lily. The most expensive bill we had for her was about chf 600 near the end of her life.

Because Emi is young, we got a high deductible (chf 1000) plan in case we have something catastrophic, but other wise we’ll cover the usual expenses. As she gets older, we’ll see if insurance is worthwhile. The money might be better spent elsewhere.

The little monkey is a money sink anyway, albeit delightful, especially now as she’s learning bite inhibition.

As fot the List, median might be a better measure than average. I’ve not looked at the article, though....I can think of all sorts of data issues, but I’d rather play with my dog.

16
Expectancy at birth doesn't give a really good number to judge. I expect that as with people, there are many deaths during first months. So, if you take a look at life expectancy at 1 yo, it will go up drastically.

17
It does indeed seem off.

Of the Meloncollies, all of whom had a rough start in life:

The shelties made it to 15-18, with the sad exception of Prudence Treadlightly who died at 2 and a half.

The rough collies made it to 13-15, with 147 year old Melon as the outlier. We have no idea how old he actually was.

Heffalump is still going strong at 12. And because the universe loves a laugh, Robin Goodfellow will probably outlive us all.

18
Here's the difference between Cat and Dog people, Cat personnel will never miss a chance to announce the glorious names of their feline owners. I'm noticing that the doggie people (except for a few, MC...) mention the breed only.

Anyway, my Double-doodle has just turned 1, and I do hope that my Princess Luna-Bear Rembrandt van Gogh the First enters the pantheon of Dogs Gods and remains immortal!

19
Princess Luna-Bear Rembrandt van Gogh the First

20
I find these numbers off, based on the dogs I meet daily - crossbred is seldom (unless street dogs in various countries) a matter of a luring sniff over the garden fence and quick hump behind the garage. This “poo” and that “poo” are most often deliberate pairings (not infrequently between dogs where one lacks the credentials to get a purebred mate, but owners know they can get lots of money for the label aka designer dogs)