Yesterday, for the first time in more than 14 years, I went for a long walk by the river without my dog Bella. These days she’s still keen to go for a walk – but it’s more like an amble. A v-e-r-y s-l-o-w amble. And after 2-3 km that’s it for the day. Her age is catching up with her.<\/p>\n
Now, Bella’s a golden lab. And 14 is a good age for that breed, going by the age\/breed chart on the vet’s wall. Especially because we’ve managed to keep her slender (a hard task with a lab!) & fit. Yet one of her friends, a little bichon, is much the same age but still leaping about like a young thing (as the age\/breed chart suggests for her). So why do big dogs often seem to age (in relative terms) faster than little ones? And why do dogs age more quickly than humans?<\/p>\n
There are few animals that have similar lifespans to those of humans – offhand I can think of elephants, turtles, & some fish. You could argue that up until recently, people were lucky to get beyond their 40th birthday. In the Western world, at least, advances in nutrition & medicine have seen that change. But then, in that same part of the world humans besotted with their pets tend to apply the same advances to their companion animals’ well-being…<\/p>\n
There’s the possibility that, in selecting for size, we’ve also inadvertently selected for something else that shortens life. Something that impacts on the telomeres of big dogs, perhaps? Although that’s not a universal feature, because there are smaller dogs – bulldogs, for example – that tend to lead shorter lives as well.<\/p>\n
Hmmm. I have to say that I don’t actually know. And so far, I haven’t managed to find out. So view this as an open thread – suggestions, anyone?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yesterday, for the first time in more than 14 years, I went for a long walk by the river without my dog Bella. These days she’s still keen to go for a walk – but it’s more like an amble. A v-e-r-y s-l-o-w amble. And after 2-3 km that’s it for the day. Her age […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[22],"yoast_head":"\n