How long do dogs live? Life expectancy of dogs of different breeds. How long do dogs live on average? Life expectancy in mutt dogs

The dog almost always becomes almost a full member of the family. And the owners in this case are always interested in the life expectancy of dogs. After all, losing a pet for whom you become the center of the universe is very painful. Today we’ll talk about how many animals live, and what determines the duration of their life.

Choosing a puppy

If you decide to have a dog in the house, then choose not a puppy, but a breeder. Remember that babies are funny and affectionate, but not everyone is able to boast of good health. But it depends on this factor how long the dog will be your most devoted friend.

A well-chosen diet also plays a big role. High-quality feed with a balanced composition will add a couple of years of happy life to your pet.

Not only a person should lead. The dog is no exception in this regard. Long walks, good nutrition increase the life of your pet. Veterinary examinations will help prevent the development of many fatal diseases for the animal.

What is the life expectancy of a homeless mongrel?

Street dogs, unfortunately, die before reaching old age. Many factors contribute to this. And this, above all, is poor nutrition, since animals get food by rummaging through garbage containers.

A stray dog ​​is outdoors all year round, regardless of the season, and this also does not add health to the dog.

Dogs leading a street lifestyle get sick very often. Especially many animals die as a result of infection with distemper. This is a dangerous disease, which is the cause of death of many who are vaccinated against it.

A stray dog ​​is usually, or more correctly said, a mestizo, obtained from crossing different breeds. And the average number of years lived by a mestizo depends on the breed of his parents.

Life expectancy of dogs of different breeds

When choosing a future furry family member, you need to remember that appearance is not the most important thing. Pedigree dogs, which have the appearance closest to natural anatomy, live longer than their outwardly non-standard relatives.

But there are exceptions to all rules. So, baby chuhuahuas are real centenarians. Their life expectancy reaches 15 years. Of course, it all depends on the owner and the conditions that he will create for the dog.

A dog of the Akina Inu breed (the role of Hachiko was played by a dog of this particular breed) will delight the owner from 10 to 14 years.

Miniature toy terriers, which girls love to dress up and carry with them everywhere, like a beautiful handbag, can live up to 15 years. But with proper care and good heredity, they sometimes set records, living up to 25 years.

Purebred husky dogs, even at the age of 14, remain in excellent physical shape, and can live for a quarter of a century. But boxers have a rather short life - only 10 years.

Note to future owners

When choosing a dog, you should pay attention to the breeds that are closest to the natural look. So, a flat muzzle, huge eyes or crooked paws will add unusualness to the animal, but shorten its life.

Life expectancy can also depend on such trifles as eye color. Dogs with beautiful blue eyes can be completely deaf, and during a walk the dog will not be able to hear a car approaching him. The result is death.

How to extend the life of your pet

The life expectancy of dogs depends primarily on the diet of the animal. It is necessary to feed the dog correctly, and for this it is necessary to take into account the weight, age, as well as the rhythm of his life.

As for the feed itself (natural food and dry food), here you need to get advice from a veterinarian. If this is not possible, then we must remember that a sharp transition from one type of food to another is unacceptable.

Sweets, fatty and fried foods are completely prohibited for dogs.

Long walks can help prolong the life of your dog. After all, movement is life. In addition, the animal will always be in good shape.

For a dog, the family in which he lives automatically becomes his pack. It is important that the animal does not feel like an outcast. Let your pet take part in your life: play with it, take it with you on vacation. The psychological state of the animal also plays no less important role than good nutrition.

And, of course, a loving owner needs to monitor the health of his pet. The dog needs to be taken for preventive examinations to the veterinary clinic, vaccinated, etc.

Remember that representatives of large breeds by the age of 7-8 are already becoming real old men. But even at this age, they love you just as much as when they were puppies. So be careful with them as well.

In general, you just need to love the animal - and then it will live a long and happy life.

When making a four-legged friend in the form of a small cheerful lump, few people think that not so much time will pass, by human standards, and they will have to say goodbye to a family member. Not fair? Of course ... It is not in our power to decide who, how long to live, but the owner of the dog can help his pet live as long as possible if he gives him attention and love. So how many years do dogs live, and what determines their lifespan?

If translated by human parameters, then the following data is obtained:

• A puppy of 1 month old corresponds to a six-month-old baby.
• In a year, this is already a 14-year-old teenager.
• At one and a half - an adult dog of 20 years old.
• Three years old - thirty years old.
• A seven-year-old dog is approaching retirement age - 49 years.
• At 10 years old, a dog has an anniversary comparable to a human date of 65.
• 13 years old is already a very old age for an 80-year-old man.

The period of rapid development of the dog falls on the first two years of life. When comparing dog and human ages, it turns out that a six-month-old puppy develops at the level of a five-year-old child. And the one-year-old dog is already entering a “difficult, transitional” period. And a year later - it is already an adult, independent dog, which is 24 years old.

All these age nuances are extremely important for proper training and. The dog is fully formed by 3-5 years. This time is called maturity, and the animal shows all its energy and intelligence.

Old age will come to a domestic dog by the age of nine. The dog becomes less active, it often pulls home, closer to a cozy lounger, as a result, walks are reduced in time. Commands that previously the pet diligently and with great willingness carried out, now also repeats, but with much less enthusiasm.

If the dog is 15 years old or so, then it can rightfully be included in the ranks of centenarians. This suggests that the master's care was not in vain and allowed to increase the life of a beloved pet.

What Factors Affect Dog Longevity?

Just like in humans, a number of specific factors affect the life expectancy of dogs:

• physical development;
• whether the animal performs loads appropriate to its age and breed;
• complete rest;
• enriched with useful substances,;
• sufficient communication and attention.

All these quality indicators of life are 100% dependent on the owner. And from how he takes care of his dog, the resistance of the animal to various diseases is formed.

A balanced diet from birth lays the foundation for a pet's physical health for the rest of his life and even old age. It is necessary to feed an elderly dog ​​with soft food so that there are no problems with teeth and swallowing.

In old age, animals can suffer from various ailments, most often it is a deterioration in hearing and vision, and malfunctions in the urinary system.

Another problem that can significantly reduce the age of any animal, including dogs, is overweight. Its excess adversely affects the health of a pet, affecting the cardiovascular system and the bone frame. It is necessary to control the weight of the animal, especially in old age.

Regular medical examinations, vaccinations and timely contact with the veterinary clinic in case of any problems are what will keep the dog in the right shape. Constant care for a pet throughout its life can significantly increase its life cycle.

Read also:

Life span of purebred dogs

According to veterinary experts, there is a clear relationship between belonging to the breed and the years measured by the animal. It has been scientifically proven that the smaller the dog, the longer its life.

The vitality of representatives of different breeds is different. In most cases, this is due to human selection activities. In pursuit of certain standards, some features are formed and fixed in dogs, most often unnatural.

Breeding is fraught with complications, which are expressed in hereditary diseases:

• Chihuahua. These cute little creatures are genetically prone to medial dislocations of the patella, elbow joints, and various dysplasias.
• Dachshund. Natural hunters, with a funny long body on short legs, pay with their health for such a body structure. Hereditary pathology in dachshunds are diseases of the intervertebral discs.
• Shar-Pei. Not only in this breed of dog, but in all pets with skin folds, entropion disease is common, which is essentially a torsion of the eyelid.
• Rottweilers. Strong, brave, fearless and smart. But they are also prone to hereditary diseases - aortic stenosis, Rottweiler leukoencephalopathy, follicular lipidosis.
• Pikinese. This ancient breed is distinguished by a special structure of the eyes, for which it suffers from a tendency to eversion of the eyelids, a corneal ulcer.

And each breed has its own Achilles' heel - dogs with flat muzzles have problems with the respiratory system, with skin without coat - they often get sick, large pets are often diagnosed with diseases of the joints and bones.

In addition, breeders allow various situations that affect the life expectancy of dogs:

• closely related crosses;
• exclusion of the factor of natural selection;
• often the priority is the appearance of the offspring, and not health;
• the life expectancy of the progenitors of the offspring is not taken into account.

Based on the foregoing, it can be concluded that dogs of breeds that are less subject to selection changes, of medium size and without features of appearance, live the longest. These include terriers, shepherds, huskies.

The presence of centenarians in the family is of great importance. If the pet's parents have lived to a ripe old age, then he has every chance for a long life.

If we talk about numbers, then on average, our four-legged friends live about 12 years. Here is some data on their lifespan:

• , Newfoundland - from 6 to 7 years;
• , - from 7 to 8 years;
• , Rottweilers, - from 9 to 11 years;
• , West Siberian - from 10 to 14 years;
• pit bulls - on average live up to 13 years;
,

There is a widespread belief that dogs of the "noble" breed live longer than their non-pedigreed counterparts. However, this is not the case. The main advantage of mestizos is the natural selection that is present in their lives. In its process, various physiological pathologies are discarded. It's all about the goal of natural selection - healthy individuals of reproductive age. The weak, the sick and the old have no place in this system, this is how the species survives.

So, the average age of a mongrel ranges from 9 to 12 years, but there have been cases when outbred dogs lived up to 20 years. This is primarily due to good care and nutrition.

But not every yard pet is honored with such an honor - to live in warmth and comfort. That's why he is a yard. And this opens up a lot of opportunities for the animal to eat what is horrible in garbage dumps, contact with various, often infectious relatives, sleep on bare ground in the open, losing health due to natural selection. Uncontrolled walking often leads to injuries to the animal, which is not always taken to the veterinary clinic. With this way of life, rarely does any mongrel survive to deep gray hair.

long-lived dogs

Despite statistics and calculations, nature never ceases to amaze, and the Guinness Book of Records confirms this. On its pages there is data on long-lived dogs that have survived the prescribed age by more than two times:

• The first pet record holder was the Austrian shepherd, whose life expectancy was more than 29 years. Throughout his life, the dog guarded sheep flocks and was active until the last days.
• Today's long-lived terrier, Max, is approaching his 30th birthday. By the way, the dog never received any special care and ate ordinary food.

The duration of a dog's life is individual, but each dog owner can make it long enough, happy and colorful!

The dog is our close friend, whom we have known since childhood and who is almost guaranteed to be lost one day. Alas, a dog's age is shorter than a human's. Nature has not endowed our faithful friends with longevity of parrots (representatives of some breeds live up to 70 years), turtles (200 years) or at least elephants - many of them celebrate their 60th anniversary.

How many years will your dog live? When will he start to age and require extra care? You should think about these questions even when you are just choosing a puppy.

There is a saying that a small dog is a puppy until old age. It is also true because small breed dogs stay young longer and, accordingly, live longer. Compare data on the life expectancy of dogs of different breeds:

As a rule, dog owners determine the youth, maturity and old age of dogs, equating one year of a dog's life to seven years of a human. This is not the most correct ratio, since a dog at the age of one year can give birth, and seven-year-old children of other babies, as you know, do not give birth. American specialist in the field of dog breeding B. Foster in the book "The Life of a Dog" gives the following comparative table of the age of a person and his four-legged friend:

You should take into account all the physiological and psychological age characteristics of your pet. In the first two years of life, the dog develops most intensively - already at the age of six months, puppies correspond to the level of physical development of five-year-old children. At the age of one year, dogs begin a "transitional period" with all the corresponding behavioral features. Another year - and your pet can be equated in terms of physical development to a 24-year-old person.

With proper care and upbringing, the dog will be formed physically and psychologically at the age of three to five years. It is this age that is the golden time for the dog and its owner. The dog is full of energy, playful, readily executes commands (of course, if he is trained in time), sometimes he amazes the owners with his quick wit and ability to catch the wishes of the owner.

And at the age of nine, a dog is considered old. Instead of running around and playing, your pet wants warmth and peace, and commands are carried out slowly and reluctantly, probably to make it clear to the owner that over the years spent together, he is fed up with such entertainment.

If your dog has celebrated its 15th birthday, you can be proud of both her and yourself. After all, it was you who provided the conditions in which your friend lived for such a long time. You formed for him that lifestyle (nutrition, training, emotional stress), which was the most optimal. That is why the dog lived such a long and, perhaps, happy life.

We draw attention to the fact that a relatively healthy old age awaits only the dog that in his youth received a balanced diet and optimal physical activity.

Quite predictable difficulties await an elderly dog ​​- hearing is deteriorating, vision is noticeably declining. Males in old age can acquire problems of the prostate gland and the urogenital area. As you know, the services of a dentist are generally not available to dogs, so in old age they lose their teeth and begin to need soft food that does not need to be chewed or chewed.

Often such food and lack of activity lead to weight gain. This should not be allowed, because every kilogram of overweight is an additional burden on the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems, and on the whole body as a whole.

A veterinarian is just as necessary for an old dog as it is for a young puppy that has not formed an immune system. The sooner any disease inherent in animals of venerable age is detected, the more likely it is to be cured or at least ensure its stable course without any special complications.

But no matter how much you want your dog to stay with you for many, many more years, the day will come when the veterinarian will throw up his hands and say that even medicine is powerless against age and your pet's disease is incurable. Then you will have to make one of the most difficult decisions in your life - to prolong the suffering of a hopelessly ill friend or to render him the last favor and put him to sleep.

In any case, it's your decision. your pain. Your responsibility. However, you cannot change the course of life, and farewell is its inevitable component.

The longest dog life!

The Guinness Book of Records recorded the fact of the longest life expectancy of a dog. Helper shepherds named Blue (owner - Lev Ball, who lives in the Australian city of Rochester) lived 28 years and 11 months, once again confirming that being in the fresh air with constant physical activity is useful not only for people (among which most centenarians are also shepherds), but also for animals.

shared

Cur- of course, not a breed. This is a community of dogs, which includes crossbreeds of numerous breeds, including high-born ones. Because the mutts are so different from each other in size, color, character. But they all have one thing in common - gratitude.

Difficult fate taught them to appreciate human participation much more than other arrogant, thoroughbred dogs reclining on pillows.

If we continue the comparative statistics, it is interesting to know how many years mongrel dogs live? Based on physiological capabilities, it can be argued that their life expectancy is the same as that of all other dogs - an average of 9 to 12 years.

Centenarians live up to 20 years if they live in good conditions and eat normally.

But the fact of the matter is that not every mongrel is awarded good conditions. The name itself suggests that she is destined to live more often in the yard than in the house. And this means one thing: unlimited access to garbage containers, landfills, uncontrolled contact with sick animals.

The most common canine disease is distemper. For the disease, one contact is enough. Domestic dogs are vaccinated against this infection several times, but this, of course, does not shine for the cur. The result is not long in coming. It is rare that a yard dog survives to old age.

Of course, not only homeless dogs get sick and die. Pets are at risk just as much, and they live no more than the average age of cur dogs. They can pick up the same distemper or deadly tick while walking.

Unless, of course, they are not vaccinated on time. Puppies and young dogs, regardless of breed, get sick especially quickly.

By the way, the age of the dog is a very interesting point. Previously, it was accepted to calculate the age of a dog, in comparison with a human, from a ratio of 1: 7. However, a more or less careful study of the issue allows us to disagree with such arithmetic. It is wrong to assume that a one-year-old dog corresponds to a seven-year-old human.

A seven-year-old child is a fool, while a one-year-old dog enters sexual maturity and can already give offspring, as well as serve the owner. It turns out that the age ratio should be at least 1:14. But this is only in the first period. Further, the gradation changes in the direction of decrease. A twenty-year-old long-lived dog is equated to a person of a very respectable age, approximately 85-86 years old.

There is a statement that the life expectancy of a dog directly depends on its size. It is believed that small dogs live longer than large ones. From the same considerations, it is concluded how many years on average mongrel dogs live. As already mentioned, mongrels are mestizos from different breeds.

And external data, health, life expectancy, and intellectual characteristics of the dog depend on what genes they receive from their parents.

Canine intelligence is a topic for a separate discussion. In this matter, it is impossible to say which dog is the smartest and which is not. We've all seen lazy, naughty, and poorly trained good breed dogs—and smart, loyal, talking-eyed mutts. And this did not depend on the height or beauty of the dog.

Another mongrel, a large spotted dog, was distinguished by refined tastes: he squeamishly picked out onions from food with his fingernail, as children do, and when tulips bloomed in the yard, he came up and sniffed each flower in turn.

Alas, both dogs died tragically: the first was shot during a dog wedding, the second died of distemper. And each of them was mourned by the household no less than the most expensive thoroughbred specimen.

How did Boyarsky sing there in the cartoon about the musketeers? "I'm outbred - this is a minus, but I love you - this is a plus." No one could say better about the mongrels.

When buying a dog, we, as a rule, do not think about how many years dogs live, paying attention to the cute muzzle, coat, color and smart eyes. But this can be an important, and sometimes decisive factor. After all, a dog is not just a faithful companion. This is a guard and assistant in household chores. We will try to talk about how long dogs of different breeds live on average and how you can extend their life.

Unfortunately, the life span of dogs is relatively short. It is also known that dogs of large breeds live less than small dogs. A dog whose weight in adulthood exceeds 26 kg, and whose height is 60 centimeters, can be safely attributed to large breeds. From the table, we can roughly find out how long do big dogs live.

Medium size dogs is the largest group. It contains about 200 breeds. The characteristics of this group are as follows: weight - from 13 to 25 kilograms, height at the withers 40-57 cm. Such breeds, on average, live longer than their large counterparts.

Small breed dogs according to size they are divided into the following groups: toi (height up to 28 cm at the withers), dwarfs (below 35 cm) and small (below 45 cm). The weight of such dogs does not exceed 10 kilograms.

However, it should be noted that weight and height are not the only factors that affect a dog's lifespan. There are exceptions to any rule. The age of your pet can vary significantly, as it depends on a huge number of external and internal factors. The way of life, diet, physical activity of your pet has a huge impact.

What affects the life expectancy of dogs

Mutts suffer from hereditary diseases much less than purebred dogs

If your dog was well fed, outdoors, regularly examined by a veterinarian, kept at a comfortable temperature and clean in his youth, in adulthood his health will not cause you any special problems.

How long do outbred dogs live - mongrels? Studies have shown - they have a clear advantage over purebred dogs in health. After all, their intelligence, health, height, weight and other characteristics are the result of mixing the characteristics of several types. At the same time, hereditary diseases characteristic of a particular breed are not inherent in them.

Of course, all this applies to domestic dogs that have an owner, a home and appropriate care. Street dogs, unfortunately, are under the influence of constant stress factors: weather conditions, food quality, diet, lack of veterinary care. All this significantly reduces the life of such animals.

How to extend the life of a four-legged friend

Take care of your dog and he will live a long, happy life.

If you want your pet to feel comfortable, follow these simple guidelines:

• First of all, you should take care of a competent, varied and balanced diet. Don't forget your vitamin and mineral supplements.
• It is also worth controlling the weight of the pet, because its excess is often the cause of cardiovascular diseases and problems with the skeleton.
• Mode. For good health, the dog needs to lead an active lifestyle. Even before you get a puppy, consider whether you can provide sufficient exercise or whether you should opt for a dog with a more calm temperament.
• The cleanliness of the premises and the hygiene of the dog itself is an important component of its health.
• Favorable microclimate in the family. If peace and tranquility reign in the family, stressful situations do not undermine the mental and physical health of the pet.
• Veterinary care throughout your pet's life. Many problems and diseases in the advanced age of the animal can, if not avoided, then reduce their catastrophic impact if they are detected at an early stage. Do not neglect preventive examinations, vaccinations, cleaning of tartar.
• Try to minimize the possibility of accidents as well. Proper dog walking will prevent the possibility of poisoning or accidents. Restricting access to wires and cables will protect your pet from electric shock.

Thus, acquiring a dog, you should pay attention to the breed and the conditions of detention that are characteristic of it. This will allow not only to know in advance how long your four-legged friend will live, but also to take measures to extend this period. Let your dog please you with excellent health and wonderful mood for as long as possible. After all, this is a guarantee of your longevity and well-being.