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Hanna, I am so sorry for your loss. I am sure you miss him or her dearly and I hope I didn't cause you additional saddness. I didn't realize the date of the posts.
I knew someone who had a German Shephard that also lived to 17 and when I asked her what she fed, she said the same thing as you, whatever was cheap at the grocery store. But she said that she always made sure the dog had plenty of exercise and that is what she attributed her dogs longevity to.
I always like to ask people like you who have been successful in keeping their dogs healthy for so long because I want to be able to do the same for mine. My oldest right now is 10, doesn't show any signs of slowing down, and I want to keep it that way! I hope I can do as well keeping my dogs healthy as you have done. Kudos to you.
No worries. I think of him every day, of course, but it is easier now. My dog(s) (I only have one now) have a large, fenced, multi-level yard and also go for walks and geocache with us, and I'm sure that helped. But I like to think their longevity was because they weren't "just a dog". They were always treasured members of the family and treated as such.
I just found these articles. At the time the articles were written, one of the dogs was 26 and the other 27. They also talk about what they feed these dogs. Amazing!!
It's the size thing. It's kind of like people really. A larger person (giant) will have a much shorter span of life.
All of my pups have lived to be over 10, most well into their teens. I have a soft heart for goldens though and they seem to be so prone to cancer, so I have lost them at 11 or 12. My others were all mixes that I adopted from vets or picked up off the streets and they lived much longer, 15-18.
My rescued Doberman was 15 before she died of old age. She was the most wonderful, wonderful girl. My rescued English Pointer died of 7 of a brain tumor. You just never know. I do feed my dogs two smaller meals per day of quality food and NZYMES vitamins. Another Dobe of mine died at 10 of disc disease. Had the surgery at 7 and was good until he blew another disc and down he went. He could not undergo another of those surgeries; they are a truly slow and harrowing recovery
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