Longevity of Purebred Dog Breeds

Body mass is a very significant factor for influencing longevity. Generally, large animal species tend to live longer than small species. In domestic dogs, the relationship between body size and lifespan shows opposite trend and increasing bodyweight is negatively correlated with longevity. Crossbred dogs have increased longevity, compared with purebreds. In the Cane Corso Italiano breed, a relationship between longevity and hair colour was found for the first time in mammals.

Understanding longevity and aging across species and individuals is critical for reaching higher ages at death in animals, as well as in humans. By understanding genetics, the age limits of animals and humans can be significantly prolonged. Detection and analysis of genes associated with longevity present a very promising method for prolonging life.

Body mass is a very significant factor for influencing longevity. Generally, large animal species tend to live longer than small species [1,2]. This rule has some exceptions. In domestic dogs, the relationship between body size and lifespan shows the opposite trend, and increasing bodyweight is negatively correlated with longevity [3,4]. A negative correlation has also been observed between height and longevity [5]. The lifespan of most dog breeds has already been described in the past [3,4]. Cane Corso is the last dog breed in which their lifespan was determined [6]. Breed – specific age at death is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Longevity of Purebred Dog Breeds.

** Breed Weight Group: 1 = toy, 2 = small, 3 = medium, 4 = large, 5 = giant

Crossbred dogs have increased longevity, compared with purebreds, irrespective of bodyweight, based on predicted effects from hybrid vigour. Crossbreds demonstrated a 1.2 year average survival advantage over purebreds [4]. A valuable study of dog breeds compared purebred and crossbred longevity across five bodyweight categories, which demonstrated that age at death for purebred dogs was significantly lower than that of crossbred dogs for each bodyweight group [7]. This finding suggests that hybrid vigour substantially affects longevity in dogs. One possible explanation is that hybrid dogs are less likely to be homozygous for deleterious genes [8]. Only molecular genetic analysis of genes associated with longevity can explain this feature.

Young dogs usually died from gastrointestinal and infections causes, whereas older dogs died of neurological and neoplastic causes [9]. Breed specific proportional mortalities were described as the most common causes of death in 72 breeds. The breeds with the highest proportional mortalities for cancer included, in descending order, Irish water spaniel, Flat-coated retriever, Hungarian wirehaired vizsla, Bernese mountain dog, Rottweiler, Italian spinone, Leonberger, Staffordshire bullterrier, Welsh terrier, and Giant schnauzer [3]. Breeds with a cardiac condition as the highest breed specific proportional mortality, in descending order, included Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Norfolk terrier, Deerhound, Griffon Bruxellois, and the British bulldog [3]. In the Cane Corso Italiano breed, a relationship between longevity and hair colour was found for the first time in mammals [6]. This finding can suggest some relationship between genes associated with longevity and genes responsible for hair colour.