If your dog has reached 15 years do you have any tips or is it just genes?

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I’ve heard that dogs typically live shorter lives than in our grandparents ‘ generation and wonder how to help Ddog live her fullest life.
She is only 3 at the moment and I avoid unnecessary chemicals when can (eg I have tested her for worms rather than routinely worming her .) I don’t know if this is helpful but so interested in older dogs and if anything has helped them live good lives , I know age isn’t everything!

Ps sorry the 15 is quite arbitrary! I just love hearing of older dogs who are happy and a friend’s dog lived to 17 I think and ate kibble so nothing special , I haven’t checked which one

Family dogs lived to 18 years and would never have had any worming treatment, or annual vaccinations. Also ate supermarket food. One pedigree and the other a spaniel mix.

Our DDogs are now 14 an although one has hardly any hearing or sight, are as fit as anything. Will still walk 3 hours a day albeit slower. They are wormed, flea treatment, annual vaccinations, daily steroids which in itself can be life limiting, monthly injections for skin issues and are fed specialist dog food. They look amazing, act like pups, and are on parr with our old family dogs. The key I think is lots of exercise and no treats outside of a dental stick. They aren’t remotely overweight. They are treated like dogs. Loved but not pampered like a baby. Mental stimulation as well as physical is very important.

Two are pedigrees and the other is a collie X. All have medical issues of some sort

Depends on the breed and size. Big dogs tend not to live as long as smaller dogs.
I think in the past people also tended to get a dog rather than a breed so more mongrels which don't come with the breed issues.

Mine is 15, and very sprightly (staffie). I'm ashamed to say she's lived pretty much her whole life on supermarket dog food and I don't think she's ever been wormed. She isn't on any medication for anything. I attribute most of this to pure luck and obviously if she needed it I'd have given her a more expensive diet etc but she's always done really well on the basics.

I think the biggest factor is not letting them get overweight in their later years. Avoid unnecessary veterinary treatment. I don't vaccinate every year. Do worm and flea checks rather than treat as standard. Also certain breeds live longer. We have had a cross breed terrier that lived to 16 and an pointer that lived to 17.

My sweet doggo passed in June this year and he was 15. He was a pedigree poodle.
My only advice is make sure they get plenty of walks, rest and lots of nutritional food. Also make sure you maintain your dogs dental hygiene as that can cause problems you rarely think about. But above all, make sure you give them lots of love and maintain their good health.

My mum had a dog that lived to 15. Tbh, good genes obviously helps! Mum's dog was a small mongrel and they're notoriously hardy. I know my mum made sure she stayed a healthy weight. She also didn't believe in vaccinating yearly. I think she vaccinated her every 3 years. I'm not sure about worming, but I know she didn't use flea medication and instead bathed her in tea tree shampoo regularly - the dog never had fleas.

Mine are 11 and 13, one is a miniature Australian labradoodle, the other a miniature labradoodle (both medium size).
The older boy is full of life but has cataracts so his sight is failing, but he copes quite well. He's also just had cancer, luckily stage 1 and after removing the tumour no further treatment needed. He sleeps a bit more than he used to, and once asleep needs a bit of coaxing to get up, but overall he's fit and healthy, though in the last year he has noticeably slowed down (he was quite boisterous before).
Younger one is as she's always been.

Oh no special diet or anything. Vaccinated every year but have been a bit relaxed about worming. Walks twice a day.

These replies are lovely and very interesting, thank you . I am going to carry on keeping ddog very trim and fit. It’s encouraging to hear of such good ages here . I must keep up brushing dog’s teeth, I do this so sporadically but she loves it (I bought silicon finger brushes to brush our baby‘s teeth and she uses one of them!!)

im interested whether fewer vaccines is a help and titre tested ddog last year but it was expensive

My cockapoo is almost 12 and still racing around and being as naughty as ever. She loves to play, tossing things around. She used to have some stomach issues/ colitis but that seems to have settled over the past 2 years. She still enjoys long walks, has dry food ( good quality) and fresh chicken each day. I think and hope she will have a good few years left yet as I couldn't bear life without her.

Labrador 18, Springer 17 1/2. Both working dogs long retired. They were rarely vaccinated. Only treated f

I should also add she also had to have ten teeth removed a few months ago, but coped well with the anesthetic and recovered very quickly.

For fleas if they showed signs. Ate nuts, vegetables, fish, leftovers. They did have arthritis meds towards the end. Their weight was lowish all their lives

I would always vaccinate as we almost lost our DDog as a puppy (family dog, many many years ago). He was so ill but got through it. My parents didn’t vaccinate regularly even after and he still lived to 18 but I wouldn’t risk it. Many of the diseases they protect against are very uncommon now but the purpose of boarding, we keep up with ours.

2 labs got to 17 and 16 .

Various Collies have live to over 18

WCS have lived to over 17

The youngest dog to die was a 14 year old WCS.

I do mega research when I get a new dog although some of the above were rescues.

They are all working dogs.

They have all had different diets but are wormed counted and titre tested after initial puppy vaccinations. One did need booster vaccinations at 5 years old.

The one thing they have all had in common is being kept on the lean side and regular exercise. Not short walks in the week and longer walk at weekend. Good regular exercise all their lives.

They all did different dog sports and this helps to keep them mentally active and able to chill.

I think the most important things (aside from choosing a healthy dog from healthy parents) are:

• good food - doesn't have to be expensive, just something that suits your dog and makes sure they have healthy poos.
• exercise
• mental stimulation - anything from agility to scent work to gundog training.
• good quality sleep and low levels of stress. So that could mean not leaving them alone for long, paying for home boarding over kennels, paying for a dog walker etc if needed.

And yes, a low body weight.

So many overweight dogs out there and the owners think it's normal 😞 I regularly see an overweight lab reluctantly plodding around after its owners - the first time I met it, I thought it was elderly - nope, the poor thing is three years old 😭

My darling girl died earlier this year, she was 15.
I vaccinated her for boarding purposes but only treated for fleas etc if she showed signs, so basically only once.
She ate organic food and had a lot of exercise, and was always on the light side of a healthy weight. She was never ill a day in her life until she died - the day before she was charging around the fields but old age finally caught up with her in her sleep.
I too think weight is the biggest cause of many health issues.

My grandparents had generations of dogs that all lived to around age 14-16.

They were all small dogs (small dogs live longer), of breeds that didn't have have health problems, had nice long walks, ate commercial dog food with quite a few table scraps thrown in (including the odd bit of chocolate) and rarely saw the vets.

Training in the sense talked about on MN was almost non existent (recall? If we feel like it; it never occurred to us to take treats out on walks), crates hadn't been invented, but socialisation was in abundance and they were fundamentally very nice dogs who slotted in most place. When elderly, the dogs were taken out for walks in a one of the shopping trolleys old people like, or, for one generation, they were put next to me in my pram.

I'm on my first DDog as an adult so I can't tell you if what I'm doing is working in quite the same way, but a couple of things outside my control are that he's a rescue who had limited socialisation as a puppy and finds life quite stressful; he's going prematurely grey in the muzzle and I do wonder if that will have knock on health impacts. He also has badly constructed front legs so they could cause issues in future.

One reason is genetics - kennel club breeds won’t live as long, mongrels will live longer.

the next is food! Nutritionally, the preservatives to make dog food last years on a shelf is what can impact them. Home cooked food is my answer and there’s a website that helps ensure all the basic nutrition needed is within it

MyDDog is younger, but generations of her family usually live to at least 15. I think good genes in a fairly robust breed is key (they're small terriers)

All are regularly wormed, so I don't see that as a factor.

What I do think matters is keeping them at the right weight and keeping them active. That's really important for quality of life too (general well-being and protective of joints)

Genetics is 99% of it. My dog died just short of 16, he was healthy his whole life and we did nothing special about his food or medical care or anything.

Our lovely lady is 15. She's a Patterdale border cross and they are hardy and stoic little dogs.
However the last few days she's faltering. Hope she pulls through.
She's just had plenty of walks, lots of love, play fights, mostly supermarket food except for this last 6 months where we are prepping fresh minced food.