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It varies a lot between dogs.
My BC is 13 now and only just started to slow down and show her age. Her mother started showing her age when she was younger...about 9.
People often say that little dogs live longer but when you check out the longest lived dogs that made the records, they always seem to be medium sized dogs like collies, cattle dogs etc...
I know two people with medium sized dogs who are 16 years old at the moment and seem to be doing fine.
I also met a bull mastiff who was 11 and she seemed to be doing fine as well. They usually only live to about 7 or 8.
I knew that from 7 onwards, medium and larger breeds are considered senior and many dog insurance companies will not take on dogs that are 8 or over...they'll only carry on insuring dogs that were with them already.
I'd start your dog on glucosamine sulphate and have some cod liver oil in her diet too. I'm sure doing this helped our Jess stay in such good shape for as long as it did.
It's not uncommon for dogs to start stiffening up a little at about 8 years old.
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everyone else has pretty much explained everything. I think that for a giant breed like Great Danes or Irish Wolfhounds 8 is considered old. I have seen Danes live to be 12 or 13 yrs old. For a dog about the size of a Golden Retriever I think 8 is middle aged. Goldens can live for 12 to 14 yrs. Debending on the overall care of the dog throughout it's life has a great deal to do with how long it's life is. My pomeranian, Beanie is going on 8 or 9 yrs. We're not sure exactly how old he is since we adopted him when he was an adult. He's a smaller breed. Has shown no signs of slowing down. He plays more than Charlie does...and charlie is a puppy! :eek:
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It realy does depend on the dog ;). I have just gotton home from a quick fast paced bike ride with Clover (8 year old Rottie x Aussie Cattle Dog) she loved it, and as soon as she was un clipped from the bike at the park she was hooning around flat out along side me :D. That dog does not act like an 8 year old.
Then on the other hand our 9 year old Penny (JRT x) act as though she is 19 years old :(. I also know a dog who will be 21 years old this year and still has her crazy puppy moments, she has had her fair share of problems the last 10 years or so but just keeps going.
I will be happy if the BCs live till their grandmothers age of 18 or 19 ;).
