Heartbroken, but hopeful

[Seeks Future Ancient Dane]

I lost my beloved ten-year-old blue girl , Gracie, to heart failure last autumn. All of you who have had a Dane burrow deep into your heart know what I mean when I say that her departure has left a big hole there. You also know that another love will never fill that hole, but it'll only be a matter of time before another Dane enters my life and warms my heart. I want my next Dane to live years & years & years. I've decided to begin reviewing the longevity characteristics of numerous bloodlines. If anybody knows of a database that documents such information, please tell me about it. If nobody knows of such an information source, I would like to ask anybody who was acquainted with a registered Dane who lived a long life to share what they know of his/her parentage or pedigree.
Wouldn't it be great if there were more numerous ancient Danes in our lives and our homes and our communities and the world ? !!

[kahluadanes]

I lost my beloved ten-year-old blue girl , Gracie, to heart failure last autumn. All of you who have had a Dane burrow deep into your heart know what I mean when I say that her departure has left a big hole there. You also know that another love will never fill that hole, but it'll only be a matter of time before another Dane enters my life and warms my heart. I want my next Dane to live years & years & years. I've decided to begin reviewing the longevity characteristics of numerous bloodlines. If anybody knows of a database that documents such information, please tell me about it. If nobody knows of such an information source, I would like to ask anybody who was acquainted with a registered Dane who lived a long life to share what they know of his/her parentage or pedigree.
Wouldn't it be great if there were more numerous ancient Danes in our lives and our homes and our communities and the world ? !!

Buying from a responsible breeder who does health testing (OFA or PennHip on hips, OFA heart, thyroid & eyes) on parents before breeding and who has carefully researched their lines is your best bet for having a Dane that will live a long healthy life... in addition not spay/neuter too young, feeding a good quality food, keeping lean all go a long way in helping extend a long healthy life.
I am very sorry for your loos and totally understand... I've been there too sadly

[Seeks Future Ancient Dane]

It's my hope that longevity and prolonged health may prove to be like other characteristics that folks breed for.

I'm starting to explore the heritability of long life. I hope that I can find a genetic contribution where, just as some lines have a better chance of success in the show ring or a lower incidence of hip dysplasia, some lines have a pattern of longer life and greater cardiac health. It seems to me that the first step in assembling a database of such bloodline information is to ask folks to tell you about the pedigree of any Dane who thrived to an advanced age.

Thank you very much for the advice and the condolences ... and thanks for the opportunity to elaborate upon what I'm asking for.

[kahluadanes]

It's my hope that longevity and prolonged health may prove to be like other characteristics that folks breed for.

I'm starting to explore the heritability of long life. I hope that I can find a genetic contribution where, just as some lines have a better chance of success in the show ring or a lower incidence of hip dysplasia, some lines have a pattern of longer life and greater cardiac health. It seems to me that the first step in assembling a database of such bloodline information is to ask folks to tell you about the pedigree of any Dane who thrived to an advanced age.

Thank you very much for the advice and the condolences ... and thanks for the opportunity to elaborate upon what I'm asking for.

Responsible breeders breed for an entire package.. health, temperament, conformation & longevity... In the years that so many responsible breeders have worked so hard in improving all these areas the average life span has gone from 6-7 to 10 years and many well bred Danes live into their teens... it is not unusual for a well bred well cared for Dane to live a healthy life to 12 to 15 years of age. Great strides in health, temperament & longevity have been made... The problem lies with so many irresponsible breeders who don't care, don't health test, don't pay attention to what is behind the dogs they are breeding and just breed willy-nilly and with people who buy from these type of breeders.

[Seeks Future Ancient Dane]

We appear to be experiencing a classic "failure to communicate" (Thanks, Strother Martin & writers of Cool Hand Luke).
If one set out to research which lines have a history of producing more champions, I believe that they would be disappointed to be told only that all good breeders aspire to optimize confirmation.
I'm trying to collect anecdotal reports of especial longevity and link those reports to pedigree.
I hope to discover lines & crosses with a pattern of having a higher fraction of the Danes they produce survive to an advanced age.
While I appreciate the observation and the fact) that everyone is aspiring to greater longevity, I'm trying to find out who is more often achieving greater longevity.

[Dickie Best]

We appear to be experiencing a classic "failure to communicate" (Thanks, Strother Martin & writers of Cool Hand Luke).
If one set out to research which lines have a history of producing more champions, I believe that they would be disappointed to be told only that all good breeders aspire to optimize confirmation.
I'm trying to collect anecdotal reports of especial longevity and link those reports to pedigree.
I hope to discover lines & crosses with a pattern of having a higher fraction of the Danes they produce survive to an advanced age.
While I appreciate the observation and the fact) that everyone is aspiring to greater longevity, I'm trying to find out who is more often achieving greater longevity.

I think you have totally just overlooked a message somebody tried to provide for you. .

[Seeks Future Ancient Dane]

I don't think so; I believe that I was pickin' up what kahluadanes was layin' down - and I voiced my gratitude. Please feel free to further enlighten me if you think I'm missing the point. I truly appreciate the information kahluadanes shared; however, I'm seeking different information. I'm theorizing that longevity is, in part, heritable - with a higher incidence of extended survival in some lines than in others. If I'm misguided in reviewing pedigrees in order to test this theory, please describe the flaw in the theory. I will again mention what I consider to be an analogous situation in an attempt to illuminate the situation.
"If one set out to research which lines have a history of producing more champions, I believe that they would be disappointed to be told only that all good breeders aspire to
optimize confirmation."
The strategy, thus far: 1] Buy from a responsible breeder who does health testing. 2] refrain from spaying or neutering too young 3] feed a good quality food (& keep lean). 4] ... and this is my goal in posing this inquiry ... start with a puppy from a line that discernibly more often produces appreciably greater longevity than the "competition".
Can you embrace number four as an element of one's strategy ?

[Mama_Mia]

I do believe your question was answered for you... if you are wanting to research specific lines for strictly longevity purposes, you are going to have to contact those breeders yourself and speak with them. The GDCA is a good database to find breeders who can answer your questions about their lines.

Again, reputable breeders breed for the entire package and longevity is part of that package. Reputable breeders do all they can to set their puppies up for success in that area.

I'm sure genes influence survival into old age. You should also take their environment, lifestyle, nutrition, etc. into consideration as well. I believe all of the above play a role.

[kahluadanes]

We appear to be experiencing a classic "failure to communicate" (Thanks, Strother Martin & writers of Cool Hand Luke).
If one set out to research which lines have a history of producing more champions, I believe that they would be disappointed to be told only that all good breeders aspire to optimize confirmation.
I'm trying to collect anecdotal reports of especial longevity and link those reports to pedigree.
I hope to discover lines & crosses with a pattern of having a higher fraction of the Danes they produce survive to an advanced age.
While I appreciate the observation and the fact) that everyone is aspiring to greater longevity, I'm trying to find out who is more often achieving greater longevity.

No failure to communicate.. I know exactly what you are asking/looking for... and again it is an entire package and as was said you would need to check with various breeders..

[Seeks Future Ancient Dane]

Okay. I give up!
I nearly posed another question; however, I would need to monitor this forum for a reply or the question would become rhetorical by definition.
In parting, I must share that I find it amazing that nobody who posts on this thread can embrace this as a direct question similar to "what lines have a lower incidence of bloat?" or "what lines have a particularly good record in the show ring?" or "what lines breed most color-pure?" or "what lines most reliably produce successful service-dog candidates?". Alternatively, maybe a person couldn't get a straight answer to any of those questions either.
I appreciate your time, attention and thought in replying to my posts.

[kahluadanes]

Okay. I give up!
I nearly posed another question; however, I would need to monitor this forum for a reply or the question would become rhetorical by definition.
In parting, I must share that I find it amazing that nobody who posts on this thread can embrace this as a direct question similar to "what lines have a lower incidence of bloat?" or "what lines have a particularly good record in the show ring?" or "what lines breed most color-pure?" or "what lines most reliably produce successful service-dog candidates?". Alternatively, maybe a person couldn't get a straight answer to any of those questions either.
I appreciate your time, attention and thought in replying to my posts.

There is no cut and dried answer to your question (just as there isn't to any of the ones in this comment ).. There are far too many variables that need to be considered.. We all know it is a direct question and know exactly what you are asking by the way

[oshagcj914]

If you wanted to know what lines have a good record in the show ring, you could easily find that info because records are kept. Afaik there is no where to look up how long each breeder's dogs are living. Which means you would actually need to find some reputable breeders are ask them. We understand your question, we just don't have a specific "so and so bloodline" answer for you. When I bought my dogs, this is something I talked to their breeders about. Find some reputable breeders you are interested in and ask them about how long their dogs are typically living.

[kahluadanes]

The other thing is a bloodline from a responsible breeder can be long lived but if that same bloodline gets in the hands of an irresponsible breeder and ends up getting "diluted" out by willy-nilly breeding practices it can end up no longer being long lived when in the wrong breeding program.

[Yaz]

I don't think there is any database in North America keeping information on longevity. The DDC in Germany have a page on their website that has information on dogs currently alive that are over 8 years of age. I took advantage of this resource when I was looking for a breeder. I looked at which Kennels had multiple litter mates alive and started researching from there.

http://www.ddc1888.de/Unsere-Oldies.oldies.0.html

[emeko]

The thing is, most dogs (most animals in general) don't just curl up and die someday of old age. It's a lovely thought, dogs living to a ripe old age and then just "slipping" away peacefully during a nap some day. It can happen, but more realistically dogs (and other animals) die OF things. They die of heart failure. They die because their hips and joints fail them and they lose mobility. A good breeder does everything possible to screen for and breed away from genuine heritable conditions. Finding a breeder who is breeding well put together dogs (ie that can win in a ring of conformation) and doing appropriate health testing is your best bet to get a long lived dog, because they're less likely to die of one of those conditions.

After genetics, environment plays an enormous role. Nutrition, exercise, veterinary care, age of spay/neuter, living conditions, etc. Even a dog with exemplary genetics can fall short of its genetically predetermined life span with poor care, and even a poorly bred unhealthy dog can live longer than expected with exemplary care.

And of course, there is luck, good and bad. A well bred dog with the best care in the world that should have lived into its teens can suffer an unexpected health event and die young. We'd all like to be able to control the outcome, but it's not reality. All you can do is stack the deck in your favour, which is what the others here are trying to tell you.

Sorry for your loss and pain.