Want to know what the average life expectancy of your dog’s breed is? A recent UK study reveals all.
Gus will be 10 years old in July. Where does time go? It seems only a year or so since he was a tiny puppy with huge ears. Those ears haven’t changed. They’re still huge. The sad things about dogs is that they have such relatively short lives.
Hopefully we have another 2-3 years or so with Gus, a figure supported by a new study.
There’s a newly created life table for dogs
The study looked at over 30,500 dogs that died in the UK over a 4 ½ year period and has calculated the first ever life tables for UK dogs. Life tables are commonly used for humans as a proxy indicator of general population health, but they are rarely found for animals.
Of the total, 57% of dogs were neutered. Overall life expectancy was 11 ½ years.
Females generally lived longer than males and neutered dogs generally lived longer than non-neutered ones, supporting previous research.
Life expectancy per breed
The individual breeds studied, in order of average life expectancy, were:
| Jack Russell | 12.72 |
| Yorkshire Terrier | 12.54 |
| Border Collie | 12.10 |
| Springer Spaniel | 11.92 |
| Crossbreed | 11.82 |
| Labrador retriever | 11.77 |
| Staffordshire Bull Terrier | 11.33 |
| Cocker Spaniel | 11.31 |
| Shih-tzu | 11.05 |
| Cavalier King Charles Spaniel | 10.45 |
| German Shepherd Dog | 10.16 |
| Boxer | 10.04 |
| Beagle | 9.85 |
| Husky | 9.52 |
| Chihuahua | 7.91 |
| American Bulldog | 7.79 |
| Pug | 7.65 |
| English Bulldog | 7.39. |
| French Bulldog | 4.53 |
All four dogs with the lowest life expectancy are flat nosed breeds who are predisposed to life-limiting problems such as obstructive airways syndrome, and also spinal diseases.
I was surprised by the Chihuahuas. This breed showed a very wide variation in lifespan.
Is your dog insured?
The final finding which I wanted you to know about was that only 17% of dogs were recorded as being insured. Given the cost of vet bills, that figure saddens me.
Enjoy your dogs. None live as long as we’d all want, so every day is precious.
Keep training and stay safe,
Carol
PS Here’s the link if you’d like to read the full study.
