Veterinarians Think They Know Why Golden Retrievers Are Dying at an Earlier Age
Golden Retrievers are one of the most popular and beloved dog breeds. With their beautiful, sweet faces, friendly nature and easy-to-train personalities they consistently rank as one of the most popular dog breeds in America.
They are also sadly one of the most overbred dog breeds in America due to the demand for these pups. In an article published October 9, veterinarian Michael Lappin claims that this beloved dog breed is dying at a much younger age than they did in the 1970's and 80's. He states that a lot of these dogs lived up to 17 years old if not longer in the early days of his practice but are dying before they turn 13 now.
The Slate article explains, "Today, there is a consensus among veterinarians that golden retrievers have some of the highest rates of cancer of any dog breed. Perhaps, according to data spanning from the ’80s into the 2000s, the highest."
So what has changed since this dog breed reached the popularity we now see at any dog park on any given Sunday? Breeding practices.
The article explains that when Golden Retrievers were introduced to the British social elite of the late 1800s they were kept as hunting and retrieving dogs. After the first World War retrievers became more popular and life in general improved for all dogs, they were more often kept inside as domestic pets as opposed to living outside in barns, preventative veterinary care and vaccines became the norm. So now that we have all of this care for our pups, the article delves into how they could possibly be dying younger, and why it’s important to understand why dogs are prone to illnesses like cancer in the first place.
Which circles back to breeding, and in particular line breeding. Line breeding involves mating closely related animals, typically within the same family line or genetic lineage, to preserve or enhance specific desirable traits or characteristics while reducing the introduction of new genetic material.
The article explains all living beings carry genes with harmful mutations, which they pass to their offspring. Most of the time, the descendant will inherit a working copy of the same gene from the other parent; that working gene takes over so that the harmful mutation never presents itself. But when two closely related individuals are bred together, their offspring are likelier to inherit two copies of the same mutation—say, a mutation that predisposes them to cancer—leaving them with no functional gene to step in.
In 2012, the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study has been collecting data on Golden Retrievers, including how often they exercise, where they live, and the type of foods they eat. Both vets and owners submit reports on the pups' behavioral and physical health. And the study of more than 3,000 dogs also records how long they lived and how they died. Some of the dog's deaths were cause by being hit by a car or perishing in a house fire, but the overwhelming majority passed away due to cancer: a total of 600 participants.
Robert Rebhun, a professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine and a cancer biologist, has been looking at the the DNA of Goldens and hopes that his findings, which haven't been published yet, may offer some solutions into longevity and how good gene variants may push dog breeding into a more ethical direction. The article says, maybe the results will help breeders become less laser-focused on the perfect boxy head, big brown eyes, or fluffy coat. Instead, armed with data, they may start opening up their genetic pool to other breeds or dogs that have less archetypal features—a golden retriever with a deep red coat or long narrow snout, for instance—in order to water down those harmful genes.
It's an interesting question for potential Golden Retriever owners. Would you swap your dog having the perfect retriever appearance in order for it to live a longer life? Thanks to these studies in the longevity of Golden Retrievers and their future findings, this may be the exact question dog owners will be asking themselves.
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