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Dog longevity: How long will your dog live?
Do you look at your dog and wonder how long it might live?
Do you ponder how many more years you’ll get to go for walks or to cuddle on the sofa?
A new in-depth studyΒ hopes to help by assessing the life expectancy of British canine pets.
It shows a newborn Jack Russell Terrier can be expected to live longest at 12.7 years on average, with Border Collies (12.1 years) and Springer Spaniels (11.9 years) not far behind.
In contrast, some of those in-vogue dogs popular with social media influencers could break your heart sooner than you think.
Four flat-faced breeds were found to have the shortest life expectancy at age zero – with French Bulldogs only expected to live 4.5 years, followed by English Bulldogs at 7.4 years, Pugs at 7.7 years, and American Bulldogs at 7.8 years.
These pets are associated with several life-limiting disorders, such as breathing problems, spinal disease, and difficulty in giving birth – all of which will limit the breeds’ overall longevity.
Dog life expectancy at birth
- Jack Russell TerrierΒ 12.72 years
- Yorkshire TerrierΒ 12.54 years
- Border CollieΒ 12.10 years
- Springer SpanielΒ 11.92 years
- CrossbredΒ 11.82 years
- Labrador RetrieverΒ 11.77 years
- Staffordshire Bull TerrierΒ 11.33 years
- Cocker SpanielΒ 11.31 years
- Shih-TzuΒ 11.05 years
- Cavalier King Charles SpanielΒ 10.45 years
- German Shepherd DogΒ 10.16 years
- BoxerΒ 10.04 years
- BeagleΒ 9.85 years
- HuskyΒ 9.53 years
- ChihuahuaΒ 7.91 years
- American BulldogΒ 7.79 years
- PugΒ 7.65 years
- English BulldogΒ 7.39 years
- French BulldogΒ 4.53 years
Age lists like the one above (for 18 selected breeds and crossbred animals)Β have been produced beforeΒ but this one is the most sophisticated yet because it’s based on an analysis of a giant database of veterinary records calledΒ VetCompass.
Run by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), this surveillance system currently holds information on 20 million animals.
It’s allowed Dr. Kendy Tzu-yun Teng and colleagues to compile what are called “life tables”. Simply put, these are charts that organise a population into age bands, with each band showing the probability of death before the next age grouping.
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.
“Sometimes a statistic that is a single value, giving you the middle of a curve – it’s correct, technically, but there’s much more nuance in the data and distributions than that. And the Chihuahua is the perfect example of where that nuance is important. Just knowing the middle of the distribution of ages can lead you astray,” the RVC veterinary epidemiologist told BBC News.
This approach will be very useful for people who are thinking about adopting a mature animal or who need to decide whether to pursue expensive medical treatment for their ageing pet. The owner will now be able to make a much more informed and finessed decision. With insurance for pets ever more common, actuaries will be keen readers of the new tables.