Jack Russells in the lead for canine lifespan

Terrier lives for almost 13 years on average, but think before buying a flat-faced dog, experts warn owners

‘If an English bulldog makes it to nine years old, then it can only be expected to see one, maybe two, more Christmases’

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 four and a half years.

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) analysed 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.

Dr 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.”

He added that males are more likely to be put down due to “undesirable behaviour” and also tend to engage in “higher levels of risk-taking” than females.

The study included data from more than 250 different dog breeds as well as mixed breeds, but there was only enough data for a league table to be created for 18 breeds as well as crossbreeds, which covered around half of all the canine study participants.

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

While the average life expectancy for all dogs was 11.23 years at birth, the equation changed after every year lived. For example, by the time a dog is four years’ old, it likely has less than eight years left to live. But at 10 years this drops to 3.3 years, before falling to less than one year if a pet is 16.

The researchers also calculated at what point a dog can be expected to only have 18 months left to live and if an English bulldog makes it to nine years old, then it can only be expected to see one, maybe two, more Christmases. In contrast, Yorkshire terriers, Jack Russells and mongrels don’t reach the 1.5 year end-of-life threshold until the pet is 14 years old.

Dr Kendy Tzu-yun Teng, lead author of the study from the National Taiwan University, 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 the French bulldog and bulldog.”

Dr O’neill added: “The short life expectancies for flat-faced breeds [supports] the UK Brachycephalic Working Group’s call for all owners to ‘Stop and think before buying a flat-faced dog’.”

The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

‘[There] is strong evidence of compromised health and welfare in short, flatfaced breeds, such as French bulldog and bulldog’