New drug to extent dogs life.

[Wishfilly]

Got to say though, I do wish they could make my lovely big dogs live as long as my horses.

How many dogs of any breed really live as long as horses though? I know lots of people with sound, happy horses well into their 20s- and I mean "proper" horses rather than small ponies. I know a few dogs in their late teens, but they all look aged, and realistically many of them would have been put down as horses due to their lack of soundness, as it were.

Of course, it would be amazing if dogs and horses could live, if not forever then certainly much longer- but at the moment science can't fight that, and I think the early attempts to do so are likely to be fraught with problems.

It's a bit like cloning horses and expecting them to come out the same. AFIAK none of the clones have ever achieved the success of their "parent".

 

[CorvusCorax]

I specifically try to have 'correct' if not undersized types, of a medium to large breed.

The dogs we have owned and died/with us did so at:
12 CDRM
14 CDRM
10 tumour on spleen
4 & 6 (siblings - one PTS for temperament issue, the other from anal furunculosis, not a healthy litter and decided not to keep showlines again although that was also to do with the direction I wanted to go training wise. The male with AF was too tall and had lots wrong with him health wise.)
11 cancer/arthritis, also a tall dog.

And my current eldest is coming 13, still sound and going out for walks, he is small for his breed but one of the most robust dogs I have come across, with a lot of very long-lived dogs behind him.

I think these days, I'd be happy to get a medium/large dog to double figures. Mine have quite an intense workload when they're in their prime also so I take wear and tear into account.

 

[skinnydipper]

I think it is important to get things right for large breed dogs from birth. My own very large dog has a health problem caused by poor nutrition as a puppy. It was picked up as an incidental finding when she attended a specialist vet with another problem

I don't know what she ate as a pup or growing dog as she was about 2 years old when I adopted her.

 

[SilverLinings]

And that's another thing, with so many different risks to health and longevity it will be interesting to see exactly how much extra life (years, months) this treatment results in on average, when it's been tried on a large number of dogs. I can't imagine the average difference will be massive, and although it may make a big difference for some individuals the owners won't know in advance as you don't know what other diseases the dog may or may not develop.

In my personal experience of small and medium breeds (2 'pet' bred, 1 show line, all the rest workers, all purebred) 12 is a good life, 14 is great, anything 15 or over is unusual (but great of course). But they are all physically 'elderly' towards the end of their lives (if the dog doesn't die prematurely) and I wouldn't want to just have more years of them being a weaker/slower OAP.

 

[blackcob]

If it extends the end bit, with the arthritis and the lumps and the cognitive decline and all the worry and pain that goes with the later years, I'm not sure it's worth it.

ETA: Crosspost with SilverLinings, exactly that, I don't think I'd want it if the result is more of the advanced OAP years.

I despair at the number of people on some GSD pages proudly announcing that their dogs are 50 kg, and won't accept they are oversize and/or overweight.

I forgot to tell you that I've put the large one on two different sets of scales in the last couple of months and she is actually 31kg which is much less scary than the first scales had me believe

 

[MurphysMinder]

If it extends the end bit, with the arthritis and the lumps and the cognitive decline and all the worry and pain that goes with the later years, I'm not sure it's worth it.



I forgot to tell you that I've put the large one on two different sets of scales in the last couple of months and she is actually 31kg which is much less scary than the first scales had me believe

That’s less than Zen , not that Ive weighed her for a while . But my girl is certainly over standard height wise, though not fat .

 

[SilverLinings]

If it extends the end bit, with the arthritis and the lumps and the cognitive decline and all the worry and pain that goes with the later years, I'm not sure it's worth it.

ETA: Crosspost with SilverLinings, exactly that, I don't think I'd want it if the result is more of the advanced OAP years.

My last dog seemed very aware of, and confused by, her physical limitations in the last 12-18 months of her life. For example she would manage a short canter on the beach and then appear to be disappointed and upset that she couldn't keep up that speed for longer. She and my mother's (younger) dog were devoted to each other and used to play fight a lot, one day my dog was knocked over fairly easily and seemed very upset and confused by it (the younger dog learnt to be more and more gentle after that fortunately).

It was heart breaking to see her mind fully functional and no different to when she was a young dog, and that mind struggling to come to terms with a body that could no longer keep up. She was unusual in that she showed a lot of self-awareness, but even with other dogs I've had who seem to accept age limitations without thinking about it it was still hard to watch them decline.

So for me I would take extra healthy years yes, extra years of fragile old age no. I expect that as with many people on here I never want to lose my dogs, but their welfare always comes before my reluctance to let go (and the anguish it causes).

I'm sure there's a parable or fairy story about someone who is granted a wish and they wish to live for ever, but although they do they keep aging and life becomes more and more intolerable. Humans need to be careful what they wish for.

 

[Squeak]

It would be such a lovely idea if they could make our dogs live happily and healthily for longer. Sadly as others have said I think the reality is it wont work or wont be worth it or potentially not kind to the dog.

 

[Cortez]

My last dog seemed very aware of, and confused by, her physical limitations in the last 12-18 months of her life. For example she would manage a short canter on the beach and then appear to be disappointed and upset that she couldn't keep up that speed for longer. She and my mother's (younger) dog were devoted to each other and used to play fight a lot, one day my dog was knocked over fairly easily and seemed very upset and confused by it (the younger dog learnt to be more and more gentle after that fortunately).

It was heart breaking to see her mind fully functional and no different to when she was a young dog, and that mind struggling to come to terms with a body that could no longer keep up. She was unusual in that she showed a lot of self-awareness, but even with other dogs I've had who seem to accept age limitations without thinking about it it was still hard to watch them decline.

So for me I would take extra healthy years yes, extra years of fragile old age no. I expect that as with many people on here I never want to lose my dogs, but their welfare always comes before my reluctance to let go (and the anguish it causes).

I'm sure there's a parable or fairy story about someone who is granted a wish and they wish to live for ever, but although they do they keep aging and life becomes more and more intolerable. Humans need to be careful what they wish for.

This ^^^, and also pretty much the way I feel about human aging too, incidentally…..

 

[P3LH]

…or just outcross to similar but slightly smaller breeds, healthy specimens obviously. Aim to produce a dog where over time you’ve reduced size a little, reduced possibly life limiting factors as a result of size or confirmation, and the bonus of bringing in new genetic matter. One day this final point is going to have to be accepted, there is only so far you can go with a closed stud book no matter what you do.

 

[SilverLinings]

There was an article in The Times today about the research, apparently they think it would add approximately one year to lifespan, and increase the amount of time the dog remains healthy for. It is good there is an emphasis on healthy years rather than prolonging old age, but there hasn't been a big or long-term study yet. Interestingly there is two separate groups of scientists working on very similar projects, so it will be interesting to see what the results are in a few years' time.

I suspect big pharma will be watching closely as there will be £billions to be made if this works and can be extrapolated to humans.