Hi Maria, Interesting topic you bring up. I have had many BMD's live past 10 years of age, the longest-lived was Fritz, who passed on at 14 years of age. I've had many ppo's call and tell me their previous dog 'died of old age'. To me, this means they do not know why their dog died. In today's world, that means they did not try to find out (for whatever reason).
The term 'dying of old age' is, to me, kind of like 'the vapors', i.e. it is an old term that is no longer meaningful. Dying of 'old age' was said to happen when the body just 'quit' without obvious reason after a long life. We now have so much more technology and knowledge, that we have the ability to find out the reason for death. We don't have to settle for a catch-all phrase such as 'old age'. There are always specific reasons for death -- an organ system, structure, etc. that is no longer able to function for a specific reason. A good, healthy BMD should live 10-12 years. Causes of death in my dogs who died after a long life were: Konig: Bloat, 10.5 yrs. Missy: Histio, 10 yrs. Amelia: Leiomyosarcoma, 10.5 yrs. Abby: Lymphoma, 11.5 yrs. Brando: Anaplastic lymphoma, 10.5 yrs. Betsy: cancer, unknown type, 12.5 years Fritz: Hemangiosarcoma, 14 yrs. Rosie: Degenerative arthritis of spine, 12 years Lucy: Cardiomyopathy (on necropsy, was found to be secondary to malignant histio), 11.5 years Christie is currently gracing my couch at 11 yrs 5 months of age. She is one of 5 littermates still doing well out of a litter of 8. The youngest died at 7 years (bloat), then one at 8 years (histio) and one at nine years (unknown cancer). It is SO important to know the cause of death of our dogs so that we have complete information on our breed. With this knowledge, we can make the best decisions in breeding, future areas of health research, etc. For example, the MH study currently being conducted at Fred Hutch in Seattle: For their control group, they are getting blood samples from BMD's over 10 years of age, thinking those dogs would not die of MH since we lose dogs at such a young age to this disease. They are having to revise this after 3 of their control group dogs have eventually passed on of histio. The more we know, the better the decisions we can make for our own dogs as well as the breed. Unfortunately, not all my dogs have lived long lives. I have been blessed to have the majority of my kids do so, but have also known the horrible ache of losing dogs before their time. Longevity is something that we need to continually consider along with everything else. IMO, breeding for longevity too often takes a back seat to many, many other priorities. A balanced breeding program keeps longevity as a high priority. Berner wags, Suzanne Hostetter Alpenrose Farm Rochester, WA > Hi List, > > I've been following this list since last September and see all of the > postings about cancer deaths (Histio roll call) and other illness > related Berner deaths. This got us wondering if there are any of you out > there who had a Berner who died of old age and if so to what age did > they live. It can't be as bad as it sounds. We love our little guy very, > very much and know that the average life span is only 6-7 years because > of the illnesses they are prone to. We would really like to hear some of > the stats on the lucky Berners who live a long, full, happy, and healthy > life. Let us know. > > Thanks > Maria, Mark, Arabia (the Lab) and Jack (the Berner) > Ringwood, NJ
