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Selecting a mid-sized dog for lifespan
Eight years ago, when my dog Molly seemed elderly, I launched a thread
on 'breeding a long-lived dog': http://groups.google.com/group/rec.p...d+dog&hl=en & There were several good posts in that thread. Now I return to the topic. Molly, as it happened, was not as elderly as I then thought. She lived another seven years, and was active and youthful even with a good-sized liver cancer. Her disability was compressed into the last two days of her life; at 50 lbs and 15 years she had a good lifespan and was largely healthy. It's been about a year since Molly died and the family demands for another dog are getting very strong. I'm almost ready. I would like, however, to as much as possible select for a longer lifespan. As we understand the genetics of aging better (telomerase activity, etc) I'm guessing it will soon be relatively easy to breed a dog that ages more slowly (measure telomerase activity in potential breeding dogs). I doubt that's had an impact yet. So what progress, if any, has been made in the past 8 years? Is there now a breeding progam for dogs that age more slowly (ideally including crosses between longer lived purebreds)? (Long life span being a blend of slow aging and low incidence of early onset disease.) What mid-sized (50 lb) breeds seem to combine slow aging rates with low onset of early disease? [I know there are other criteria for which people select dogs, but lifespan is particularly important for me. I can only stand seeing so many dogs die.] john meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, longevity, lifespan, canine, dog, selective breeding, life extension, long lived, longlived, long-lived |
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I don't know if anyone has ever aimed for life span in breeding. As a
general rule the smaller the dog the longer the life span. Growing up we had a chi hua hua/terrier mix who lived to be 13. My cousin Tim has a small shepard mix roughly about 30lbs who is now 16. She's developed some hearing loss and site loss but it still going. Then I had two lab mixes Barney 50lbs who died of cancer at 11 1/2 the Brandy 60lb who died two months later of a brain tumor. The best guess on her age was roughly 10 1/2. No matter how hard we try to keep them healthly their age just catches up sometimes. It would be wonderful if they lived much longer. I know it was hard loosing Barney I knew he was sick. Brandy on the other hand was a complete shock to come home and find her hardly able to walk and then paralyzed only 3 days later. Celeste wrote in message oups.com... Eight years ago, when my dog Molly seemed elderly, I launched a thread on 'breeding a long-lived dog': http://groups.google.com/group/rec.p...d+dog&hl=en & There were several good posts in that thread. Now I return to the topic. Molly, as it happened, was not as elderly as I then thought. She lived another seven years, and was active and youthful even with a good-sized liver cancer. Her disability was compressed into the last two days of her life; at 50 lbs and 15 years she had a good lifespan and was largely healthy. It's been about a year since Molly died and the family demands for another dog are getting very strong. I'm almost ready. I would like, however, to as much as possible select for a longer lifespan. As we understand the genetics of aging better (telomerase activity, etc) I'm guessing it will soon be relatively easy to breed a dog that ages more slowly (measure telomerase activity in potential breeding dogs). I doubt that's had an impact yet. So what progress, if any, has been made in the past 8 years? Is there now a breeding progam for dogs that age more slowly (ideally including crosses between longer lived purebreds)? (Long life span being a blend of slow aging and low incidence of early onset disease.) What mid-sized (50 lb) breeds seem to combine slow aging rates with low onset of early disease? [I know there are other criteria for which people select dogs, but lifespan is particularly important for me. I can only stand seeing so many dogs die.] john meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, longevity, lifespan, canine, dog, selective breeding, life extension, long lived, longlived, long-lived |
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