Who ARE the dogs who still live long?
What are the lines?
What are they eating?
What chemicals (flea, HW, etc) do you use?
What kind of vaccination protocol do you follow?
What kind of excercise do they get?
Where do they live?

Litter born 2/1/99
Kenya -- age 13 years old and still kicking. Doesn't live with me so i don't know what kind of kibble she is eating. Another friend lost her litter sister Lacy just shy of 13 and she was fed raw. Shots every 3 years, swims in the pool and plays ball (even at 13). Lives in the house.

Mandy and Kena (Tag's sisters) still alive at nearly 12 (6/28/00). both are house dogs, but I don't know their rountines for food, etc.

Doll, Kyra, and Star -- 9/3/01. They all eat kibble, get shots every 3 years, and they live in the house.

Also all of these dogs live in the South (Memphis, TN) and are on Ivermectin for heartworm prevention.

 

Who ARE the dogs who still live long?
What are the lines?
What are they eating?
What chemicals (flea, HW, etc) do you use?
What kind of vaccination protocol do you follow?
What kind of excercise do they get?
Where do they live?

Ianna will be 14 next month. She's a Jago Lindenhalle daughter, out of Cora von Sontausen. She's been raw-fed her entire life, minimally vaccinated, and gets HW preventative maybe 5 or 6 month per year. Last year was the first year I had to use flea treatment after someone brought fleas to class. Ianna retired from obedience at age 9, did flyball until 10, got her TD and BH at age 10, her PT and RE at age 11.5. She's still pretty darn active tho she does need help getting up and down the stairs and getting up on my bed. Still eats raw, and she still has ALL of her teeth. Genetics definitely is part of her longevity, her half-sister (same sire) lived to 16 years 8 months!

Tori (old Cobert lines x Vopo Kirschental) lived to 14. She too was minimally vaccinated, and was raw fed from the time she was 6 months old. Mentally she was in great shape until the end, but she couldn't walk much by the time she was 12.5. She had a very rough start (generalized demodex as a youngster, bloat/torsion at 5) but was extremely healthy after that. Her full brother Logan (raised almost exactly the same way) died 2 weeks before his 11th birthday, from Malignant Histiocytosis.

 

The late Barker the Elder was born in 1995. She lived to be 14 1/2. We lived at high altitude & she developed panus but that was controlled when we moved to lower elevation. She retained her eyesight although she had a bad hip and back problems, she remained alert until she died.
Barker the younger died at over 11 yo. She blew a cruciate ligament because it was difficult to control Ms. Tank's weight. Other than that she was healthy until she came down with hemangio a few months before she died.

 

Who ARE the dogs who still live long?

My female was born March 8, 1997 and passed July 6, 2010.

What are the lines?

West German Showlines (don't have her pedigree on the database but can upload a photo of her papers here if others are interested.

What are they eating?

She was on raw. Prey model/"Frankinstyle"

What chemicals (flea, HW, etc) do you use?

Advantage for HW and fleas.

What kind of vaccination protocol do you follow?

Vaccinated for rabies every three years, and had boosters every other. When she turned 7 years old, we did not booster at all.

What kind of excercise do they get?

A few long walks per day (shortened as she aged), lived with my parents on their acreage and had full rein of the place during the day when my Dad or Grandpa was outside, slept in bed with them at night (or us kids when we lived at home). Attended training classes (obedience and agility in her younger days) and a "seniors program" where they did some fun things. She also went to hydro therapy once per week from the time she was 8-9 years old until the week before she passed.

Where do they live?

SW, Ontario Canada

 

Carmspack Kilo -- (and his sister Katiana)
Kilo close to his 14th year , I believe Katia was 15 will have to ask Linda Shaw , her owner , for exact date --

Kilo produced MANY dogs that lived into their 13, 14, 15 years.
Linda's competition dog "Timmy" seen on her site I believe was almost 15 . brother similar.

RCMP SAR dog "Nina" and "Henry" also RCMP SAR who was 3 years younger -
We’re doing fine here…hope you are too. Nina has passed her 15th birthday. She’s mostly blind and deaf, but very happy and has become quite sweet in her old age. Henry creaks a little and has a bit of a cystic prostate, but he also is quite happy and thinks he is the top dog here.)

 

before this connection to Kilo there was a family line out of my long lived female "Ambergris" who was bred to Rallos Farmenblick.
All , with the exception of the one male in the litter , who was an active RCMP service dog and died due to knife wounds in active duty, lived past 13 .
The female I had for my brood was "Tetley" and she passed at nearly 14. One of Ruth Yeuletts females from that litter lived to almost 17 , her other past 15 , one that I put into a home lived to 14 .

Here is a note from the owner of "Yaska" a relative of Amber of "Carmens pack for giving us the oppertunity to have the best dog in the world. I was only 11 at the time when my parents said we could get a dog and I was so excited. If this is the right person you will remember Yaska she was a breedeing bitch and you sold her to us when she was six.
Yaska was the reason I went into veterinary medicine she was so wonderful i wanted to help all animals like her.
Yaska lived til she was 15 and we compare all new dogs to her."

Working police dog Keno , related to this maternal line , adding DDR Grando Mecklenburger Buffel worked , full service almost to 11 when they discovered his age , which they forgot about because the dog never needed vet attention.

"Razor" a Kilo son , Kingston Police dept - well into his 13th year
Flint with Lindsay PD , well into his 13th year, special requested for FBI participation when almost 11.

Carmspack Allycia , Kilo daughter , last time I heard 15 .
Her brother Sensei close to 14 .

Angie and Gina -- two females about 6 months difference, last time I heard from the owner they had made the 15 year milestone.

I personally owned one that lived to 16.

Now for the flame --- I DO NOT find that the Czech dogs exhibit this longevity nor over all health.
I have been following Jocoyn's health trials with poor Grimm with much interest .

 

Now for the flame --- I DO NOT find that the Czech dogs exhibit this longevity nor over all health.
I have been following Jocoyn's health trials with poor Grimm with much interest .

Hmmm, we personally only have 1 dog who is from Czech lines and we have had more health issues with him than I'm happy with.
There are 2 dogs in our club who are Czech dogs and they both have some early health problems setting in, too.
On the other hand, the 2 Czech dogs that the local K9 unit got originally that my husband trained seemed to be pretty healthy, but I lost track of them when we changed cities.
Will have to pay closer attention in the future.

 

Carmen, I am curious to know why you think that Czech dogs don't exhibit longevity. I personally am very fond of these lines an own a 1/2 Czech female so I would be very interested to hear your opinion on this.

 

Ike v Del U Haus (Nike), Sch2, KK2 -- born in 1998, so 13+ and still going; has been fed mostly kibble, although I've done raw at times. Spayed at age 9, mother to a several litters. Had a vestibular syndrome incident in Feb 2011 that messed up her balance and it hasn't been fully regained. Still goes on regular walks and is on no medications. Monthly ivomec for heartworm, Frontline 2-3 times a year. Vaccines every 3 years for most of her life (I don't think she's had anything but rabies since she was 9 or 10).

I've had three GSDs live to be 11+ -- born in 1994, 1994, and 1997. And my American boy who was born in 1992 lived to be 2 months shy of 14.

The longest-lived GSD I've known personally was Kathy Moacanin's Rhena v Haus Antverpa, who was born in 1993. I believe she lived to be 16--she also wasn't spayed until late in life and she had several litters of puppies.

 

Of course Cyra was nothing but West German Working and made it to one month shy of 9 Years but other than HD and a flea allergy was pretty healthy and got hit with the hemangio sarcoma.

Grim is Czech at 8.5 and I would be interested in knowing more about longevity in the Czech dogs, but until this August he had zero health problems and yes, now, I am terrified.

Toby who made it only to 11 was a combo of West German Showlines and Czech and had horrible allergy problems all his life, perinala fistulas, food allergies, etc.

Linus who made it to 15 was amlines and heavily in bred on Lance of Fran Jo. HE was neutered at about 3.

One of the things that amazes me is that a lot of long-lived dogs mentioned here had chronic health issues-strange.

 

Not a single dog that I mentioned had any health issue .
They got up each morning raring to go . Never on medications. They were cheerful , youthful , fully mobile, interested in packing away a good mound of food, interested in "relations" , males with swagger and flirty girls.

 

Madina will be 11 this summer. She is in really great shape, she still zips around the yard, playing with the puppy. I don't think she acts older than 7-8. She is west german working lines, about 55 lbs.
Her only health issue has been allergies to A LOT of different things. She's been raw fed for the last 3 1/2 years, and is allergic to many protein sources. She does well on mostly turkey, but still sheds more than she should. But on other foods she will constantly be blowing huge chunks of hair, like a bitch in heat but it's constant. We did have her thyroid checked and everything was normal.
She was spayed at...5 or 6, I think. No heartworm or flea/tick preventative for several years now. No shots either.

Here she is a week or two ago, playing out in the yard...

 

Hi, just thought I would share our info

Vix GSD bitch, born April 1999(13 next month)
Lineage unknown. She isn't a cross but she has no pedigree.
Food has changed/varied over the years. Most recently fed on Burns all in one.
Never had flea treatment(unbelievably never had fleas either )
Wormer usually something like Cestem
Vaccinations-first 4 odd years had everything. The parvo virus vaccine was then dropped. next few years would be vaccinated at approx 18 month point. Past 3 years has had a leptospirosis vaccine only. Was due again January but decided against her having it.
Excercise-whilst still growing and developing a short 20 minute walk. As a mature adult we used to do 4/5 miles a day. 3 years ago the walks started to get shorter as hd/arthritis in back started to take hold.
She is a 'house' dog and is free to go wherever she likes whenever she likes. Past two years hasn't come up the stairs(unless she desperate to go out in the night) Now chooses to sleep by the front door 'on guard' despite the fact that she is now hard of hearing too!!

Oh and spayed at around the age of three.

 

Neke was born in 92 - lived 14.5 yrs. 100% American Show Lines. Fed some slightly crappy kibble before switching everyone to raw. Never had topical flea treatments. Was on HW drugs for about half her life.


Riggs was born in 97 and lived to be about 11.5. Humanely killed due to rectal cancer. Riggs was from Neke and another 100% AM show lines dog. Fed some slightly crappy kibble before switching everyone to raw. Never had topical flea treatments. Was on HW drugs for about half his life.

I truly believe both dogs would have lived longer had I not followed the advice of the shelter for which I was doing alot of fostering (usually the medical cases) and vaccinated my dogs every 6 months with a combo shot. It still hurts to think I did that to them.

 

I posted in this thread and forgot to direct link it but in general, according to this (and I don't see the source) dogs are living longer:
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/general-information/178364-new-way-calculate-dogs-cats-age.html

 

I rescued a Blk GSD in 92 from the shelter, vet there thought she was 6 at the time, she got a little crazy at the end and did not recognize me anymore, but that was 2010, so she was at least 20, because she definitely was an adult when I adopted her. She never greyed and ran everyday for 12 years, 5 miles with me in the morning and 8 with my son at night. In 1997, she hiked the AT with us, all 2,100 miles, but since she ran from the leader to the last person all day long herding us, we figured she did about 25,000 miles that summer.

She ate what ever was offered, cheap dog food, table scraps, parts from butchering on the farm.
My grandmother was a retired Vet, so she got all her shots, HW, flea stuff done regularly until 2005 when we lost granny.

 

I rescued a Blk GSD in 92 from the shelter, vet there thought she was 6 at the time, she got a little crazy at the end and did not recognize me anymore, but that was 2010, so she was at least 20, because she definitely was an adult when I adopted her. She never greyed and ran everyday for 12 years, 5 miles with me in the morning and 8 with my son at night. In 1997, she hiked the AT with us, all 2,100 miles, but since she ran from the leader to the last person all day long herding us, we figured she did about 25,000 miles that summer.

She ate what ever was offered, cheap dog food, table scraps, parts from butchering on the farm.
My grandmother was a retired Vet, so she got all her shots, HW, flea stuff done regularly until 2005 when we lost granny.

That's amazing!

 

My Bear lived to 12 years and 9 months. Survivied mouth cancer, at 8, bloat at 10 and died of congestive heart failure and loss of muscle mass. Ate Pro plan most of his life, had shots and flea and heartworm treatments in the warmer months. Miss him every day.