[QUOTE=Beethoven;8566068]
A mutt. Go to the shelter and adopt one.[/QUOTE]
Mutts are not always the healthiest and you may end up knowing next to nothing about the parents or their health…
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Distance sled dogs. Physiology wise they are freaks of nature, joint problems dont exist, and they can digest anything they can fit in their mouths. Iron dogs. A lot of Iditarod dogs are 7-10 years old, some are older. You can adopt a retiree and it’ll probably outlive your other dogs. Having said that, I have a friend with a 12 year old half sled dog, not even a real one, who still has enough energy to power a city block. It does go to show how breeding for health and toughness could improve other breeds though.
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[QUOTE=Where’sMyWhite;8566213]
Mutts are not always the healthiest and you may end up knowing next to nothing about the parents or their health…[/QUOTE]
Plus, there really aren’t that many true mutts anymore. The old mutt that had "hybrid vigor’ was a Heinz-57, ie, hard to say WTH was in there because there hadn’t been a purebred in the family for 3+ generations. Most mutts these days are very clearly 1 dominant breed - pit bull, terrier, hound, collie, etc. - and there was obviously a purebred involved in the parent’s mating. This means their breed-related health issues are much more likely to be present.
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[QUOTE=vacation1;8571157]
Plus, there really aren’t that many true mutts anymore. The old mutt that had "hybrid vigor’ was a Heinz-57, ie, hard to say WTH was in there because there hadn’t been a purebred in the family for 3+ generations. Most mutts these days are very clearly 1 dominant breed - pit bull, terrier, hound, collie, etc. - and there was obviously a purebred involved in the parent’s mating. This means their breed-related health issues are much more likely to be present.[/QUOTE]
I don’t know that there were any mutts that displayed “hybrid vigor.” It would require nature taking its course and only the fittest being allowed to pass on genes. So, weak or ill ones should be killed by the pack, or die of starvation. I’m not sure that has happened in the U.S. ever…but certainly not within our lifetime.
The idea that mutts are healthy is usually because many people don’t deliberately breed them and find out they have passed on congenital defects like dysplasia, heart conditions, eye disorders, thyroid problems, etc. etc. It’s not like mutts don’t suffer from all the same disorders that purebreds do - it’s more likely they are just not identified as congenital disorders.
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LOL at the revival of this thread so someone can try to sell a whelping box for longevity?!? As a Doberman enthusiast I wish we had known it was this simple all along!
In my experience my healthiest dogs have been Terriers. My current Jagdterrier is 10 and is a tough dog. Hopefully she is around a long time. My Wire Haired Fox Terrier was 19 when he was finally PTS. Had chronic ear infections that were life threatening and cancer twice but that didn’t bother him much. A very tough dog.
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No data or evidence but I would bet the breeds that “do something” that have clubs that require prior approval for litters based on performance and health (genetic) testing will have some of the healthiest dogs. There are some out there…
I’ve always thought that cross/mixes truly were the healthiest. We always get our corgis from working dogs on ranches and have had excellent luck one in about 35 years that had problems, even though the breed is vulnerable to several problems.
This conversation is silly; individual anecdotes are not useful to determine the health of a particular breed. We all know individual dogs that were very healthy or not very healthy, but individually they don’t help much.
You can look up the statistics for certain types of congenital defects on the OFA website. For example, the breed with lowest percentage of identified hip dysplasia is Italian Greyhound; lowest incidence of Luxating Patellas is Doberman Pinscher.
I don’t really believe that mixed dogs are less prone to most congenital defects; they just aren’t diagnosed with them. Things like mild hip dyspalsia wouldn’t necessarily be detected, ever. Certain heart and thyroid defects might never be identified, etc. These are often only identified as being abnormal because breeders are testing specifically for them prior to breeding.
If there was a breed that was least affected by congenital health issues, I’d guess one of the old breeds that haven’t ever been popular in the US and is purpose bred and/or doesn’t make a good pet…like Basenji or Canaan Dog…but it’s really hard to say.
Someone, somewhere, has probably done some sort of comparison, but I wouldn’t really use that as very predictive. A dog that has a long pedigree of ancestors without defects is less likely to have defects than another dog of the same breed that has never had any heatlh screening in its pedigree.
My first dog was a tibetan terrier. She lived to 17 years old. At about age 15 she started showing signs of being old, like doggy dementia. We euthanized her probably a little later than we should have, but other than normal aging signs she never developed any genetic issues. Funny story, our girl ALSO ate sunflowers from my bird spitting out food and we had to surgically remove it because it got stuck in her gums.
I would 100% say mutts are NOT the healthiest. You are always getting a “mixed bag” so you don’t know what genetic diseases they have.
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I agree that mutts (as in purebred crosses) are not healthiest… but disagree about the conversation being silly. However, there is a difference between a mutt and a feral dog with no recent purebred ancestry.
At this point in time, the conversation is not necessarily that silly and anecdotes are not entirely useless because right now, there are no conclusive studies done on which breed is the healthiest. With no conclusive studies, it can be impossible to quantify which breed is the healthiest, but that doesn’t mean that someone’s experience is completely useless.
I think it’s useful to read and see people’s experience with dogs on this thread, and while I’ll never own another dog, seeing other people’s experience on the matter can be helpful for any prospective owner who does not know that for, example, large breed dogs are susceptible to bloat or torsion.
however, anecdotally speaking (which does have its’ place here) you can rule out inherently unhealthy breeds and go from there. For example, I would consider dobermans inherently unhealthy (sorry Sisu, I know they’re your breed of choice and I love them too) due to DCM being almost ubitiquious in breed individuals.
Canaans have a very, very small gene pool. I considered a Canaan because my lifestyle would suit it, but ended up passing on the breed once I spoke to a breeder who admitted epilepsy and cancer is fairly common among the breed. That and the price of a Canaan dog these days is astronomical… if you want a look-alike, just find a Carolina ditch dog and call it a day. I settled on a GSD and it was a good choice for me, but I always wondered what a CD would be like.
Anecdotally speaking, just from a lifetime spent with dogs of every stripe and color, it does seem to me the mid-size (as in not bred outside of their natural morphology) live the longest with fewest health surprises… and been involved in shelter/foster/rescue, I will say that my feral ditch dogs have been incredibly, incredibly healthy - those are the 45-50lb dogs, found on the side of the road. I still keep in contact with quite a few of the owners of these dogs I pulled and fostered, and I’m surprised that some of them are still around… There’s something to be said for a feral population in the sticks - it certainly does cull health issues quickly. I’ve had terrible luck with big breed dogs, even my GSD was PTS well before his time (8) due to cancer.
Among known/popular breeds border collies have a pretty low incidence of known heritable defects. I suspect that is because the working population of the breed so far outstrips the ‘conformation only’ population. Which is not to say that if you buy a BC from some dude on CL it will be a healthy animal, but as a breed they stand out to me as not having a laundry list of known problems (especially for a big/medium sized dog).
Thats ok @beowulf I am at the point where I fully expect my Dobes to have DCM. Sad isn’t it? Not ready to walk away yet though.
@S1969 my Jagdterrier is an example of a breed with super longevity that is purpose bred, not popular in NA and makes a terrible pet. Most die from hunting incidents not disease. That however is a relatively new breed. My question is why the country/continent of origin or popularity matters? Are North Americans the only ones breeding irresponsibly? My experience with Dobes tells me that is happening on both sides of the pond. Perhaps you mean that we end up with a shallower gene pool here (non-native breeds) which in turn forces us into breeding unfit dogs?
No, but it’s not useful either. My first Brittany died from congestive heart failure at almost 13 even though there was no history of heart issues in his pedigree…but he had a heart murmur that changed significantly at age 12…was it congenital but went undetected? We will never know… My current oldest Brittany just turned 16 and has never been to the vet for anything except routine visits and a bee sting reaction. No heart issues, no eye issues, no dysplasia, never even needed his teeth cleaned,…nothing.
Two purebred dogs, both with reasonable and passing health checks, totally different health history/longevity.
I could point to their breeding programs, and it is possible that the 1st one didn’t have as good of a health “history” even if the tests came back as “passing.” But compare that to my 7 year old - whose littermate died from a brain tumor at age 4. Breeding? Environment? Bad luck? Same health history, different individual health.
My experiences would certainly not give anyone a good indication of the “health” of the breed as a whole.
It is possible to identify breeds that tend to have congenital defects, but that doesn’t mean that every member of the breed is therefore unhealthy. Breeders that screen for known health defects – e.g. von Willebrands in Dobermans - may be able to reduce/eliminate the potential for defects to the same level as breeds that are not affected.
I’m sure the same bad breeding does happen in other countries, but I don’t know that it would ever be able to approach the numbers that we might have here in the U.S. if a breed becomes popular as a pet. I also don’t know that it’s as easy in other countries to just breed puppies for money and sell them via the internet, etc. But I was just making a random guess – if I had to guess (without using statistics of actual health issues) I would think a less popular, working breed from old foundation stock would be healthiest. But again - it’s just a guess.
I personally suspect that part of why the same breeds in other countries may be healthier is that other countries are more stringent in breeding and health management. If breeds/government tried to “manage” breeding of dogs in this country, I personally suspect there would be major screaming. Not necessarily from the “small breeder” but those that are making the “designer” crosses and puppy mills, etc.
JMO
Our healthiest dog ever was an ACD/JRT mix, about 35-40lbs. She needed absolutely nothing in the way of veterinary care other than annual visits and vaccines, until she was 16, when arthritis started slowing her down and we put her on Previcox and Adequan. She lived to be 18.5, when she had a stroke, couldn’t recover control of one leg and we euthanized her. She was totally HIGH MAINTENANCE on the exercise front, until 15-16, though. We had to run her multiple miles a day or she would be unbearable to have around the house. Constant harassment for playing and walking and action. DH and I took turns, I’d run her 3 miles before work and he’d run her 3 miles after work. There’s a price to pay for “super dog” ;).
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