The joy of dog ownership is always tempered by one thing -- our beloved pets don't live as long as we do.
But finding dogs with the longest life expectancy isn't as easy as it sounds.
"All dog breeds are the same species, yet they age at
very different rates," says David Waters, DVM, PhD, professor and
associate director of the Purdue University Center on Aging. "We still
don't understand why."
The rare Mexican breed, the
Xoloitzcuintle, has a life span of 15 to 20 years, for example, while
the Irish Wolfhound has an estimated 6- to 8-year life expectancy.
There is one concrete piece of advice experts can give people looking for a dog breed with a long life span: think small.
Size Matters
Nearly 40% of small breed dogs live
longer than 10 years, but only 13% of giant breed dogs live that long.
The average 50-pound dog will live 10 to 12 years. But giant breeds such
as great Danes or deerhounds are elderly at 6 to 8 years.
Kimberly
Greer, PhD, co-authored a study that showed dogs weighing less than 30
pounds lived the longest. The study analyzed data from more than 700
dogs in 77 breeds.
"It's the weight, not the height,
that matters," Greer says. "Some dogs are short, like the English
bulldog, but can still weigh 60 or 70 pounds. They wouldn't be
considered small breed dogs."
Mark Stickney, DVM,
director of General Surgery Services at Texas A&M University College
of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, says although it's not
unusual to see a 17-year-old miniature poodle, a 12-year-old Labrador
retriever is considered old, and any dog in the giant breeds -- dogs
weighing more than 100 pounds -- is considered geriatric at 6 to 7
years.
"Generally speaking, the larger your dog is, the less time it will live," Stickney says.
Male vs. Female
Steven
N. Austad, PhD, a professor and researcher on aging at the department
of cellular and structural biology at the University of Texas Health
Science Center in San Antonio, says that, besides looking at small dogs,
people looking for the longest-lived dogs also should look at mixed
breed dogs and females.
"Female dogs tend to live a bit longer, although it's not as pronounced as it is with humans," Austad says.
Health Issues in Purebreds
Many
purebred dogs come with a laundry list of health issues that can cut
into their life spans. Some issues are specific to just one breed, while
others can be a problem in many breeds.
"Mutts
haven't gone through the inbreeding," Austad says, "so they should live
longer, or at least be healthier than purebred dogs."
Cancer
is very common in dogs, and some breeds, such as boxers, golden
retrievers, and Rottweilers, have unusually high rates of cancer. It's
been estimated that as many as a third of all Bernese mountain dogs die
of cancer.