Life Expectancy Of Dogs – How Long Do Dogs Live?
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A few years back I wrote two articles, the first was about the life expectancy of dogs and the second was about the life expectancy of pets. If you look back at those at the second post about the life expectancy of pets then you’ll see that the average life expectancy of a dog is 12.8 years. Also, now that I look back I put those articles together over 4 years ago! I was training Stetson to be a guide dog at that time!
Now you may be wondering why all the concern with “how long dogs live” and “average life expectancies of dogs“? First of all, Linus recently turned 7 years old and Stetson turned 5. If you go by the old dog to human year calculator of 7 dog years for every 1 human year then Linus is 49 and Stetson is 35! That’s right they’re no longer spring chickens. Second, one of my friends 6 year old Labrador Retriever has not been feeling well and has low platelets and low red blood cells and has been put on serious steroids. I thought way to young to start seeing these kind of problems, but then again I guess you never know.
Dog Years
I decided to dig a little deeper then the original articles on life expectancy of dogs and found a site on some updated information about dog years versus human years. I really like the simplicity of this website. Just a single page, no links, and a catchy domain name. Check out this website on dog years if you have a moment. Here’s a quote from the site:
Generally, a dog of six has aged about as much as a 45-year-old human. At 10, she’s like a human of 65; at 12, a human of 75; and at 15, a human of 90.
So the good news for my boys is they’re “supposedly” not aging as fast now that they are 5 and 7 years old. According to the chart on the DogYears.com website its approximately 5 years for every 1 human year once your pup hits about 2 years of age.
How Long Dog Dogs Live?
I already answered the question and if you were paying attention the answer was the average life expectancy of a dog is 12.8 years. However, many of you already know that this varies by breed. In general small dog breeds live longer than large dog breeds and some breeds are much heartier then others.
So if you want to know how long do dogs live based on breed then check out this article on What’s The Life Expectancy Of A Dog? I listed over 60 dog breeds average life expectancy.
What breeds am I most concerned with? One of my biggest questions would be “How Long Dog Labs Live?” Mainly because the majority of the guide dogs I’ve trained are Labrador Retrievers (Stetson, Derby, Dublin, plus all my fellow puppy raiser’s pups). And of course family and friends dog breeds come to mind. Here’s a list of dog breeds that are near and dear to my heart:
- Australian Shepherd (12-15 years) – Linus is a 7 year old Austrlian Shepherd mix
- Labrador Retriever (12.6 years) – Stetson is a 5 year old black Labrador Retriever
- Golden Retriever (12.0 years) – Apache is a 1 year old Golden Retriever
- Cairn Terrier (13.2) – Ralphie is my parents 7 year old Cairn Terrier Mix
- German Shepherd (10.3) – Georgie is my brothers 5 year old German Shepherd mix
- Yorkshire Terrier (12.8) – Yuki is my gf’s parents 1 year old Yorkie
For the expanded list check out our old post on life expectancy of dogs.
In case you were wondering according to the list the dog breed with the longest life expectancy is the miniature Dachshund at 14.4 years and the breed with the shortest life expectancy is the Irish Wolfhound at 6.2 years. I don’t think I could stand to have my dog live on 6.2 years.
I know these are just averages, but it does give you a ball park figure for your dog. I’ve had to family dogs growing up a Golden Retriever that lived to 10 years of age and a mixed breed that was part border collie I believe that lived with us for about 18 years (he was supposedly 2 years old when we picked him up from the shelter).
I’m hoping that my boys live well beyond their average life expectancy and I’m hoping all those years are healthy and happy for them.
Now that I’ve answered the question how long do dogs live it’s your turn. I’d love to hear about your experience with the average life expectancy of dogs. Tell us about your dogs in the comment section below.
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Thanks for sharing. I hope Dinks continues to have a long full life.
As a family we have had several dogs, all mixed breeds. Our first Patch a Manchester terrier cross lived 14 yrs, Tips was a boxer/lab lived 13 yrs, Sam not sure of breed but he looked like a minute Rotti he lived 12 yrs. I now have a Jack Russell/ Whippet she has IBS and is on Prednicare, she is 12, vet says her life expectancy will be shortened by 2 yrs because of the tablets. She is called Dinks her eyesight is not so good now and her sense of smell too is not very good
I love my lab Leo is 13 what a great yellow lab he is moving slow now but I will take care of him till the last day he is my best friend i wish he could have some of my years tears are in my eyes
I’m sorry to hear about Leroy. It sounds like he had a wonderful life with you.
We just had to put our lab Leroy down yesterday. We had him for 14 years, he was full grown we got him so he may have been 16. He developed cancer in the last year, a tumor on his spine flared up and he lost control of his back legs Friday. We didn’t want to put an old dog through surgery, the risk it weighed the benefit. I week miss him terribly. I agree that they don’t live long enough.
Thanks for sharing about your past dogs. We saw a nice infographic on webMD that has a Dog Age Chart based on size that might be helpful to you: http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/how-to-calculate-your-dogs-age.
I had 2 dogs that lived quite longs life’s before the died my 1st dog wired haired terrier died when he was 17ys old n my 2nd dog black Labrador died wen he was 16yrs old. I’ve got a sprollie now whose 16mths old I’m tryin 2 find out if her dog live is every 7yrs 2 our 1yr? Thank you
@Charles brown
Simply replace him? Ur a heartless prick..
No dog can NEVER “replace” my best friend Titan.. 7 yr old Golden Retriever. . This dog is my rock. . And I hope ur replaceable beagle pisses on ur toothbrush
I wish they could live a little bit longer.
When my dog runs ahead to dog heaven after around 12.8 years, we simply replace him with another beagle that looks similar.
@Irene, WOW! 17 and 18 years old! I hope my guys live that long too and are in good health their entire lives. Thanks for telling us about your pups! I’m sure Yuki will live a nice long life.
@Monica, that’s sad to hear. As I mentioned my dogs are 5 and 7 years old so I’m getting a little bit worried. Of course, Apache (Golden Retriever) is just a little over 1 years old so I’m not too worried about him. I like what you said about “dogs’ only fault is they don’t live long enough”. Thanks for commenting!
My Golden Retriever run ahead at age of 12.8, which I think was too short. Some people say that dogs’ only fault is they don’t live long enough. Sadly, one of the vets in Yorba Linda Regional Animal Hospital told me that Golden Retriever’s life expectancy has been decreasing. They used to be 12 years, but now only 10 – 12 years. He had no explanation!
In the past we have had two Silky Terriors one lived to be 18 and the other lived 17 years. Both were running around the house until the day they died. Our last dog, a Yorkie developed cancer and had to be euthanized. He was only 12 years old. Now we have a one year old Yorkie who had a rough few months with a liver shunt problem, but with surgery, she is completely well. We hope she lives well beyond her 12.8 year life expectancy!