People who are lucky enough to live with a dog worry about the health and well-being of their pet, but they know that their life expectancy is very limited compared to that of humans. Although good nutrition, exercise, emotional bonding and veterinary care are key, their longevity depends greatly on the physical characteristics associated with their breed, specifically the type of muzzle could play a revealing role in this regard.
Now, a new study carried out in the United Kingdom has identified the dogs that are most likely to live many years…, and also those that will leave us much sooner. Their results have been published in Scientific Reports and reveal, in particular, that small, long-nosed (dolichocephalic) dog breeds, such as British whippets, have the highest life expectancy (at least in the United Kingdom), while male dogs of medium-sized flat-nosed (brachycephalic) breeds, such as English bulldogs, have the lowest. They also found that large-sized breeds have a 20% greater risk of having a shorter lifespan than small-sized breeds.
To carry out the study, researcher Kirsten McMillan and her team at Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, analyzed data from 584,734 dogs of more than 150 different breeds registered in 18 different sources in the UK, including registries breed associations, veterinarians, pet insurance companies, animal welfare charities and academic institutions. Their findings could help identify dogs at highest risk of premature death.
The highest average life expectancy was 13.3 years
The dogs studied belonged to 155 breeds or were classified as crossbreeds, and 284,734 of the animals had died before being added to the database. Breed, sex, date of birth, and date of death (if applicable) were included for all animals.
The breed dogs were assigned to categories of size (small, medium or large) and head shape (brachycephalic or short-nosed, mesocephalic or medium-nosed and dolichocephalic or long-nosed) based on the Kennel breed classification. Club (British organization dedicated to the health, welfare and training of dogs). They then calculated the average life expectancy for all races individually and for the mixed-race group, and finally for each combination of sex, size and head shape.
Small dolichocephalic breeds of both sexes (such as miniature dachshunds and Shetland sheepdogs) had the highest average life expectancy of 13.3 years. Meanwhile, medium brachycephalic breeds had the lowest average lifespan, at 9.1 years for males and 9.6 years for females.
Among the 12 most popular breeds, which represented more than 50% of all breeds registered in the database, Labradors had an average life expectancy of 13.1 years, Jack Russell terriers had an average life expectancy of 13 .3 years old and the cavalier King Charles spaniels are 11.8 years old.
Purebred dogs had a higher average life expectancy than crossbred dogs (12.7 years compared to 12.0 years), while female dogs had a slightly longer average life expectancy than males (12.0 years). .7 years compared to 12.4 years).
Purebred dogs had a higher average life expectancy than those bred (12.7 years compared to 12.0 years)
The authors have explained that their results are only representative of dogs in the United Kingdom, and that crossbreeds were strictly defined as any dog ​​that was not a breed registered with the Kennel Club, so they suggest that future studies should investigate ‘designer breeds’ such as Labradoodles and Cockapoos separately to take into account the different levels of genetic diversity between these dogs and mixed breeds.
