Small dog breeds with elongated heads and snouts (or dolichocephalic), such as Whippets, have the highest life expectancy, while medium-sized, flat-faced (or brachycephalic) male dogs, such as English Bulldogs, , are those who live the shortest years.
This is clear from a study on the longevity of dogs calculated from data on more than 580,000 dogs, corresponding to 155 breeds, taken from 18 different sources in the United Kingdom (from breed registries to pet insurance companies, veterinarians, animal welfare organizations and academic institutions), and whose results have been published today in Scientific Reports with the aim of helping to identify dogs at highest risk of premature death.
The authors assessed the breed (both pure and mixed), sex, date of birth and date of death (if it had occurred) for all dogs, and classified them by size (small, medium or large) and head shape (brachycephalic or with a flat snout, dolichocephalic or with a long and narrow head, and mesocephalic or with a skull and snout of similar proportions).
And the results of their analysis determine that small dolichocephalic breeds of both sexes, such as mini dachshunds and Shetland sheepdogs, are the longest-lived, with an average life expectancy of 13.3 years.
At the other extreme, medium brachycephalic breeds – such as bulldogs or the Dogue de Bordeaux – are those with the highest risk of premature death because they have the lowest life expectancy: 9.1 years for males and 9.6 for females.
Kirsten McMillan (lead author of the report) and her colleagues at the Dog Trust (the UK’s largest dog welfare charity) also looked at the longevity of the twelve most popular dog breeds, which accounted for more than half of all breeds. purees included in its database.
And they found that Labradors and Jack Russell terriers, despite their size differences, had a very similar average life expectancy: 13.1 years for the former and 13.3 for the latter.
For their part, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels analyzed lived an average of 11.8 years.
The study has also detected that purebred dogs tend to live longer than those with crossbreeds. Specifically, the average life expectancy of pure breeds is 12.7 years, compared to 12 for crossbreeds. The authors emphasize that their results are based on dogs from the United Kingdom and all dogs that are not considered purebred by the kennel club have been considered crossbred.
And they point out that, beyond the breed or the size and shape of the head, sex also counts in the years that dogs live: female dogs have an average life expectancy slightly higher than that of males, 12.7 years versus 12.4.
