Dog Longevity 

Created by Dr. Kelly M. Cassidy, 2007

Breed Longevity Data

Last updated February 01, 2008

Study citations

See the list of Study Citations for data sources.  The first four columns of data are from multi-breed studies.   The Vet School data (Patronek et al., 1997) are based on ages of dogs that died at vet school hospitals.  The three other multi-breed studies are based on questionnaire surveys.  The ages obtained from the vet school data are always considerably lower than those from questionnaire surveys. See the Survey Comparisons page for an analysis of the difference in the vet school and questionnaire data. 

The vast majority of the Single-Breed studies were done (or commissioned) by individual USA breed clubs, sometimes jointly with a Canadian breed club.  Usually, 90% to 95% of responses were from the USA or Canada     They are based on questionnaires.  Questions, methods of analyses, and report quality varied widely among studies, but most were able to obtain much larger sample sizes than in the multi-breed questionnaire studies.  For a list of data sources, see the Study Citation page.

Reading the tables

Longevities are in years. 

Number in parentheses is the sample size for the survey.

The vet school study data are in the yellow column.

Questionnaire data are in the green columns.

The average of all the questionnaire longevities, weighted by the sample size of each study, is in the blue column.

LSS indicates a low sample size, which I defined as less than 20.   Usually, the bigger the sample size, the better, although a large sample size cannot overcome inherent biases in methodology.  John Armstrong, in an internet survey of standard poodle mortality, http://www.canine-genetics.com/lifespan.html, collected data on nearly 1000 dogs, but found that means changed very little after 150-200 dogs.

Most recent data additions to the tables:

Leonberger from 2000 single-breed health survey (added July 4, 2007)

Bearded Collie from 1996 single-breed health survey (added July 23, 2007)

Belgian Tervuren from 2003 single-breed health survey (added August 5, 2007)

Bichon Frise from 2007 single-breed health survey (added August 18, 2007)

Flat-coated Retriever from 1997 single-breed health survey (added December 26, 2007)

Boxer from German 1983 and 1989 single-breed health surveys (added February 1, 2008)

Summary Results for Pure-breed and Mixed-breed Dogs

Breed Data

Grouping of breeds.   Breeds recognized by the AKC or the (UK) KC, plus a handful not recognized by either breed club, are included in the table, including breeds for which I could find no longevity data.  Breed clubs organize breeds in a variety of ways, all different from one another.  In keeping with this tradition of not agreeing on how dogs should be organized, I came up with my own organization.  If you can't figure out where I might have put a particular breed, use the Find tool on your browser (under the Edit button if you're using Explorer).  I used the following groups and sub-groups:

Companion: Dogs that didn't easily fit into any of the other group.  Divided into subgroups by size:

            Large (80+ lbs)

            Medium (40 to <80 lbs)

            Small (12 to <40 lbs)

            Toy (<12 lbs)

Hounds

            Pariah Dogs

            Scent Hounds

            Sight Hounds

Livestock Dogs. 

            Guardians

            Herding Dogs

Mastiffs (and dogs with significant mastiff ancestry)

            Mastiffs

Northern

            Non-sledding

            Sledding

Sporting/Gun Dogs

            Pointers

            Retrievers

            Setters

            Spaniels and Springer Spaniels

Terriers

            Bull Terriers

            Traditional Terriers

Group: Companion Dogs, Sub-group: Large (80+ lbs).  

LLS =  Low Sample Size (N < 20)

Group: Companion Dogs, Sub-group: Medium (40 to < 80 lbs). 

Group: Companion Dogs, Sub-group: Small (12 to < 40 lbs). 

Group: Companion Dogs, Sub-group: Toy (<12 lbs).