Daredevil Pip jumping through flaming hoops in 2004. She has worked as a display dog for 23 years and has hundreds of fans
Posted on 12/15/2011 9:00:06 AM PST by algernonpj
24-year-old dog called Pip has walked into the record books becoming the world's oldest canine after the previous record holder died.
Pip - who is 170 in human years - took over the title after the death last week of 26-year-old Shiba mix Pusuke, from Japan.
But rather than leading the easy life indoors by the fire, energetic terrier whippet cross Pip has jumped through hoops of fire, posted letters, sniffed out firearms and even met royalty during her long life.
The highly-trained hound still performs with 18 other dogs with the Essex Dog Display Team. ...
But despite her startling age, Pip is unlikely to ever gain a place in the official record books because Ms Dyer does not have a birth certificate for her, having taken her on as a one year-old when she needed re-homing.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Old Doggie Ping
I’ve read that the new way to measure the age of dogs is to have them be 18 years of age at one year, but then add three years for every year they age.
Based on that, the dog would be really 87. A nicely aged dog for sure.
Why don’t dogs live longer?
That’s all well and good but her poor old bones can’t keep up with all those jumps. Give her a bone and let her rest by the fire.
According to the story:
‘These days her role is at a slower place ...”
‘We have given her a reasonable amount of exercise, but not run her into the ground and she has lots of home comforts.
‘She loves lying down in front of the fire relaxing and gets lots of cuddles .
‘I would say that she is happiest when she is out in Tiffany’s Land Rover, looking at the world from the back window.’
From what I’ve read, they have a higher metabolic rate than human beings.
Great story. What a sweet little pup. I just want to pet her.
And why do big dogs generally not live as long as smaller dogs?
Great story - our last dog lived to 17, husky/golden mix named Koko. Reminds me of this song by Tom T. Hall:
“Old dogs, children and watermelon wine”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrnHyDjcepI&feature=related
That is exactly what our vet told us that big dogs hearts are not much bigger than an average dog’s heart is and that it just works itself to death.Their joints give out like a larger person’s do because of their size.I do wish they lived longer, 8-10 years just isn’t long enough though we did have one Great Dane live to be almost 13.
It depends on the dog’s size and breed, according to my vet.
He says the 7 year equals one year only applies to mid-sized dogs. Our Akita, OTOH, is large and we should count each year after the first one as 8 or 9. Also, some dogs are mature at one year old, but others are only adolescent. So, a small dog could be mature and that first year counted as 18, but the larger breeds, which can remain puppy-ish for 2 years, would only be equivalent to 14 at the end of the first year.
Then, there is the individual dog. Today, they can run blood tests for everything vital to see how the animal is aging. In our guy’s case, he is very healthy at 12, with excellent dental health. He does have bad rear knees and is on supplements for those. We dread that if the knees give out before he passes on from old age, we will have to put him down. Not great choices. We work at keeping his weight down to keep from over-stressing those knees. That’s hard to do when he can’t run and self-limits his walks, totally refusing hills or anything requiring him to jump up and he can’t climb stairs any longer.
Personally, I think today’s dogs live so long because they get great food, great medical care and have access to all sorts of interventions, from supplements to medications to surgery.
Well why aren't we trying to change that? Dogs are so variable, can't we work on breeding a longer-living dog? While at it we might also learn some things about longevity in people!
I’ve found that most dogs settle down and are well behaved at about the three year mark.
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