Jack Russells in lead for longest canine lifespan

A dog may well be for life, and not just for Christmas, but how long that life lasts depends very much on the breed, a new study has found.

Jack Russells have the longest life expectancy, living for almost 13 years on average, which is almost three times as long as some of the flat-faced dogs favoured by social media fashionistas.

French bulldogs, a brachycephalic breed known to suffer with health issues owing to the short snout and intense breeding, are the shortest lived with an average life expectancy at birth of 41/2 years.

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) analyzed data from more than 30,000 dogs in Britain that died between 2016 and mid-2020 and calculated the average life expectancy at birth.

In collaboration with the National Taiwan University, the researchers found Yorkshire terriers were the second longest-living breed (12.5 years) and border collies were third (12.1 years).

Other flat-faced breeds (English bulldogs, pugs and American bulldogs) rounded out the bottom four alongside French bulldogs, with none of them expected to live more than eight years at the time of birth. The study found that, the average life expectancy of all breeds was 11 years and three months.

However, males tend to live four months less than females.

Dan O'Neill, associate professor in companion animal epidemiology at the RVC and a co-author on the paper, said: “Possible explanations include differing levels of neutering as females maybe more likely to be neutered than males.”

Labradors were the most common dog in the study, followed by Jack Russells and cocker spaniels.