Welcoming a dog into your home isn't a decision which should be taken lightly.
Owners are solely responsible for their four-legged friend's wellbeing and must ensure they're well equipped to provide for them.
This includes, but is not limited to, feeding them, walking, entertaining, socialising, washing and taking them to the vets for regular check ups.
With the overall life expectancy for pet dogs at 11.2 years, according to research by the Royal Veterinary College's VetCompass programme, owning one is a huge commitment.
Jack Russel terriers have been found to have the longest life expectancy at 12.7 years on average, which is almost three times longer than flat-faced breeds.
Sign up to our TeamDogs newsletter for your weekly dose of dog news, pictures and stories.
French bulldogs, which can suffer with various health issues due to their short snout from intense breeding, have an average life expectancy of just four-and-a-half years.
The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has studied data from 30,563 dogs, from 18 different breeds and crossbreeds, that died between January 1, 2016 and July 31, 2020 to identify the breeds with the greatest and lowest life expectancies.
In collaboration with researchers from the National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taiwan, they discovered Jack Russell terriers had the greatest life expectancy, followed by border collies with 12.1 years and springer spaniels at 11.92 years.
And the dogs with the shortest life span - French bulldogs at 4.5 years, English bulldogs with 7.4 years, pugs at 7.7 years and American bulldogs with 7.8 years - all had one thing in common - being flat-faced breeds.
Dr Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor in Companion Animal Epidemiology at the RVC and co-author of the paper, said: “Dogs have helped many humans to get through the loneliness and isolation of the Covid pandemic.
"These new VetCompass Life tables enable owners to now estimate how long more that they can benefit from these dogs.
"The short life expectancies for flat-faced breeds such as French bulldogs shown by the VetCompass Life tables supports the UK Brachycephalic Working Group’s call for all owners to ‘Stop and think before buying a flat-faced dog’.”
Life expectancy for different breeds
Jack Russell – 12.72 years
Yorkshire terrier – 12.54 years
Border collie – 12.1 years
Springer spaniel – 11.92 years
Crossbred – 11.82 years
Labrador – 11.77 years
Staffordshire bull terrier – 11.33 years
Cocker spaniel – 11.31 years
Shih-tzu – 11.05 years
Cavalier King Charles spaniel – 10.45 years
German shepherd – 10.16 years
Boxer – 10.04 years
Beagle – 9.85 years
Husky – 9.53 years
Chihuahua – 7.91 years
American bulldog – 7.79 years
Pug – 7.65 years
English bulldog - 7.39 years
French bulldog - 4.53 years
During their research, it was discovered female dogs tend to live four month longer than males, and both male and female dogs who had been neutered lived longer than their non-neutered counterparts.
Dr Kendy Tzu-yun Teng, Project Assistant Professor at the National Taiwan University and lead author of the paper, said: “The dog life tables offer new insights and ways of looking at the life expectancy in pet dogs.
"They are also strong evidence of compromised health and welfare in short, flat-faced breeds, such as French bulldog and bulldog.”
Dr Sheldon Middleton, BSAVA President said: “As a vet in practice, I am often asked questions about the average lifespan of my patients.
"To have this data now available, and based on evidence rather than anecdote, provides a direct and immediate benefit to those working in the clinic.
"Additionally, this will inform future research and provide useful insights for the wider allied professions.”
The Royal Veterinary College study was supported by an award from the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, Agria Pet Insurance and NTU-Yonglin Humane Project.
Bill Lambert, Health, Welfare and Breeder Services Executive at The Kennel Club commented: “This new tool, funded in part by The Kennel Club Charitable Trust VetCompass grant, helps us understand and determine more accurately a dog’s life expectancy given different factors throughout their lives, instead of just based on historic breed estimates.
“This new approach helps us and others to identify particular conditions or events that can happen early on in life that may have an impact on a dog’s life expectancy, and we hope this will play a part in supporting owners to understand their dog, make responsible decisions and provide good care, and help would-be owners to select the right breed for them.
"Whilst some of these breeds have only recently become popular, and so we might not have such a full picture of their overall longevity as of yet, using information and research to create new tools like this is invaluable in our work to make a difference to the lives of such dogs and their owners.”
Do you have a dog story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
